--- title: "Grid-based home-range plot" output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{Grid-based home-range plot} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8} --- ```{r, include = FALSE} knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>" ) ``` ```{r setup} library(gridHR) ``` `grid_hr()` provides a simple grid-based approach to estimating animal home-range size. Rather than estimating a continuous utilization distribution, the method overlays the observed locations with a regular spatial grid and defines the home range as the set of cells containing at least one location. The estimated home-range area therefore depends on the chosen grid-cell area and cell shape. This makes the spatial resolution of the analysis an explicit and interpretable parameter rather than an implicit property of a smoothing procedure. The function can represent spatial variation in space-use intensity by displaying the number of locations recorded in each occupied cell. In addition to estimating home-range size, `grid_hr()` can represent how space-use intensity changes with distance from the centre of the home range. This radial representation is based on the idea that a home range is not necessarily used uniformly: the intensity with which animals use space may increase, decrease, or vary in more complex ways from the centre toward the periphery. ```{r} grid_hr( gibbons, cell_area = 2000, fill_by = "locations", show_legend = TRUE, title = "Space-use intensity of a gibbon group (0.2-ha hexagons)" ) ``` For the radial representation, occupied cells are assigned to concentric radial rings according to their distance from the centre of the home range. For each ring, space-use intensity is calculated as the number of locations recorded in the ring divided by the number of occupied cells in that ring. The resulting values describe a radial space-use profile, showing how intensively different parts of the home range are used relative to their distance from the centre. ```{r} grid_hr( gibbons, cell_area = 2000, fill_by = "radial", show_legend = TRUE, title = "Radial space-use intensity of a gibbon group (0.2-ha hexagons)" ) ``` This radial representation provides a way to examine how space use is organized from the centre toward the periphery of the home range. Although spatial variation in space-use intensity can be visualized directly from the number of locations in each grid cell, the radial approach summarizes this variation according to distance from the centre, providing a profile of how use changes across the home range.