Investigating animal movement and behaviour with statistical physics methods: a primer for biologists

Movement is a fundamental component of life, intimately associated with survival. Telemetry and biologging data can be used to identify biological functions and processes that underlie animal movement behaviours. As the field of movement ecology advances, we can investigate increasingly complex aspects of animal movement. Methods derived from statistical physics are used to quantify intrinsic properties of movement, such as universal movement patterns and processes underlying collective movements; however, these methods are underutilized in movement ecology. Here, we present a working guide for our new R package, PhysMove , that facilitates the use of statistical physics-based methods. PhysMove includes ten core movement metrics that can be used to quantify: scale of movement, movement across temporal periods, potential search patterns, the influence of correlations, turning angles, community-wide movements, occupancy, dispersion, entropy, and predictability. We also include detailed, step-by-step vignettes that demonstrate how each function can be applied and suggest possible interpretations for a range of results. We demonstrate each of the PhysMove functions with a simulated telemetry dataset designed to emulate the movements of a migratory animal following a near-Brownian movement pattern with evidence of directed movements. We show how PhysMove can be used to reconstruct the assumptions underlying a tracking dataset, provide an interpretation of results from simulated data, discuss the range of possible results that can be derived from these types of analyses, and provide guidance on interpreting results in a biological context. Studies using methods derived from statistical physics should be at the forefront of movement ecology research because they can be used to describe intrinsic properties of movement across scales. PhysMove aims to assist in propelling the application of statistical physics methods in biology and with advancing knowledge of fundamental properties of animal movement relevant to conservation management.