The Biostatistics & Bioinformatics section of the Statistical Society of Australia invites members to a a presentation titled "Continuous-time stochastic process models of animal movement" delivered by Dr. Christen Fleming, head of the Ecoinformatics Lab at the University of Central Florida and Nozomu Hirama, PhD student in the Ecoinformatics lab at the University of Central Florida
Date: Thursday 2 July 2026
Time: 9:00 am (AWST)
Format: Online via Zoom. Details provided upon registration
Abstract: Continuous-time stochastic process models of animal movement
Animal tracking data are key inputs for modeling space use, habitat suitability, and behavior. In this talk, we detail the structure and estimation of continuous-time stochastic process movement models and animal-location probability density functions for these irregular timeseries. We show how autocorrelation models and autocorrelation-informed statistical methods are necessary for conservation biology and wildlife management, and we discuss current research on non-stationary processes.
Key Learnings from attending webinar:
Previous methods—that assume tracked locations are independent from one time to the next—have been shown to underestimate animal space use by factors of 2-20 on average, depending on the method and species.
Presenter Bio: Dr. Christen Fleming , University of Central Florida
Dr. Christen Fleming heads the Ecoinformatics Lab at the University of Central Florida, which works on the development and application of analytic methods for ecological, environmental, and evolutionary data, with a strong focus on addressing conservation needs. The general aim of the Ecoinformatics Lab is to resolve how abundant, yet complex data be used to inform conservation and management, through the combination of mathematical, statistical, and computational approaches. The research interests of the Ecoinformatics Lab include animal movement, species distribution, phylogenetic evolution, and population dynamics. This research is highly interdisciplinary, in nature, and involves collaboration with applied mathematicians, statisticians, physicists, and computer scientists, and making heavy use of stochastic processes, mathematical statistics, numerical analysis, and scientific computing.
christen.fleming@ucf.edu
Presenter Bio: Nozomu Hirama, University of Central Florida
Nozomu is a PhD student in the Ecoinformatics lab at the University of Central Florida. His research focuses on developing non-stationary animal movement models for examining behavioral changes using tracking data, with applications to animals with diel and seasonal activity patterns, as well as migratory and dispersal species.
nozomu.hirama@ucf.edu
@StatSocAus
