DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1ns1rn95b
title: Data from: Sex-specific resource strategies mediate home range sizes of an endangered carnivore across multiple scales

description: Home ranges reflect a trade-off between the costs and benefits associated
 with acquiring resources and can impact many ecological
 processes. These intrinsic and extrinsic factors shape how
 individuals form home ranges, leading to strategies such as maximizing
 resources across a broader area (resource maximization) or minimizing
 space use while still meeting energetic and reproductive needs (area
 minimization). Understanding drivers of spatiotemporal variation in home
 range size is essential for identifying landscape constraints on
 populations in rapidly changing systems. Despite this, few studies have
 concurrently examined how sex-specific home range strategies respond to
 environmental heterogeneity across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
 We estimated home ranges across multiple spatiotemporal scales and
 evaluated the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers on sex-specific
 home range size for the federally endangered ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
 in the two remaining populations in the USA. We used GPS telemetry data
 from 34 individuals (22 M, 12 F) collected across 12 years to estimate
 monthly, seasonal, and half-year autocorrelated kernel density estimates
 of home ranges. We found that male home ranges were ~3x times larger than
 those of females, and both sexes displayed variation in home range size
 within a year. Males employed a resource maximization strategy during
 reproductive periods while females constrained their home ranges in an
 area-minimizing approach, likely increasing in size to match the demands
 of reproduction. Vegetation heterogeneity was related to smaller home
 range size and highlighted the importance of habitat complexity and
 associated prey diversity to provide more resources in a given
 area. Our data suggest that home range variation depends on
 spatial scale and annual changes in life history that respond to dynamic
 environmental conditions and social interactions. Understanding the
 drivers of sex-specific home range size across space and time—especially
 in the context of habitat loss, shifting climate patterns, and changing
 resource productivity—can help identify key targets related to management
 and habitat restoration for small and declining populations.
description: # Data from: Sex-specific resource strategies mediate home range sizes of
 an endangered carnivore across multiple scales Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.1ns1rn95b](10.5061/dryad.1ns1rn95b) ## Description of the
 data and file structure We collected GPS collar data from 34 individual
 (22 M, 12 F) ocelots and fit continuous-time movement models to individual
 ocelot GPS relocations at monthly, seasonal (3-month period), and
 half-year (6-month period) timeframes using the R (R Core Team 2024)
 package *ctmm* (Calabrese et al., 2016). We calculated autocorrelated
 kernel density estimators (aKDE). We compared the 50% and 95% aKDE
 isopleth to identify differences in spatial scale. We used Bayesian
 generalized linear mixed models to test the effect of sex, landscape, and
 climate variables on home range size. We fit a Gamma distribution with a
 log link because of non-negative and right-skewed home range sizes in
 separate models for each sex, and aKDE isopleth (50% and 95%) with
 individual identification as a random effect. ### Files and variables ####
 File: Ocelot_HR_Comp.csv **Description:** Data used to compare temporal
 differences in home range size of ocelots in south Texas. ##### Variables
 * Date: Month/Day/Year * Animal.ID: unique animal identification * Time:
 duration of relocations used to estimate home range * level: 50% or 95%
 isopleth of aKDE home range * Sex: Male or Female * area_km2: home range
 estimate from aKDE in square kilometers #### File: Ocelot_Monthly_HR.csv
 **Description:** Data used to test environmental effects on ocelot home
 range size. ##### Variables * Animal.ID: unique animal identification *
 Date: Month/Day/Year * Sex: Male or Female * Time: duration of relocations
 used to estimate home range * level: 50% or 95% isopleth of aKDE home
 range * data: category of time and level * area_km2: home range estimate
 from aKDE in square kilometers * tmean: mean temperature (Celsius) * ppt:
 mean precipitation (mm) * spei1y: Standardized Precipitation
 Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) where climatic water balance was
 aggregated for the last 1 year * ndvi: normalized difference vegetation
 index (i.e., vegetation productivity; unitless) * entropy.ndvi: 2nd order
 entropy of ndvi (i.e., vegetation heterogeneity; unitless) * cover:
 proportion of canopy cover * gyrate_mn: mean radius of gyration of woody
 land cover (meters) * pland: proportion of woody vegetation #### File:
 modeling_and_plots.R **Description:** The R script used to run ocelot home
 range models. The script loads and installs necessary packages and code
 can be run sequentially to fit models and produce figures in manuscript.
 Variables * NA ## Code/software #### File: modeling_and_plots.R The R file
 is the script to run ocelot home range models used in the associated
 manuscript: Sex-specific resource strategies mediate home range sizes of
 an endangered carnivore across multiple scales. The script loads and
 installs necessary packages and code can be run sequentially to fit models
 and produce figures in manuscript. ## Access information Other publicly
 accessible locations of the data: * Github