Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Movements, used habitats, and available habitats identified using Step Selection Processes for four species of waterfowl in California's Central Valley, 2016-2022

Metadata Updated: November 26, 2025

Step selection functions use animal movement patterns to estimate habitats available at each step along a movement track. These data were generated from four species of waterfowl (Anser albifrons [greater white-fronted goose], Anser caerulescens caerulescens [lesser snow goose], Anas platyrhynchos [mallard], Anas acuta [northern pintail]) using the Central Valley of California 2016 to 2022 that were fit with tracking devices collecting GPS data every hour (or subset to hourly locations). Observed movements were used to estimate a 2-mixture log-normal step length distribution for each species. The shorter mean step length mixture generally reflected step lengths consistent with individual immobility and GPS errors. The larger mixture reflected movement within and across habitats in the landscape. Using these 2-mixture distributions, 100 random movements from the origin of each observed step along an animals track were generated to estimate habitat availability at each location along an animals track. Steps corresponding to the larger "moving" class were retained for use in step selection analyses. Habitat classes were aggregated from existing data sources, primarily annual U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service-Cropland Data Layer (NASS_CDL) data to identify landcover type and the California Protected Areas Database to identify regions potentially providing sanctuary or refuge from hunting activity.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-652edfe8d34edd15305a9ab0
Data Last Modified 2023-10-27T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 17c1341b-afc7-4c39-8fb4-9b66c9dc7d18
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash ae2a8e2d3dd02d57cf939fa8d0ea74a1e0633d73ed4d3ad93654d9200c27c266
Source Schema Version 1.1

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.