Advancing our understanding of the ecology of information through viewshed analysis by Job Aben

Animal spatial behaviour is often presumed to reflect responses to visual cues. However, inference of behaviour in relation to the environment is challenged by the lack of objective methods to identify the information that effectively is available to an animal from a given location. In general, animals are assumed to have unconstrained information on the environment within a detection circle of a certain radius (the perceptual range). However, visual cues are only available up to the first physical obstruction, making information availability a function of an animal’s location within the physical environment. Not accounting for this may bias inference. 
In this seminar, I will talk about modelling an animal's 'effective visual perceptual range' and present a case study to exemplify the potential of this approach for ecological research.