OpenJUMP HoRAE-A Free GIS and Toolbox for Home-Range Analysis

Over the past 20 years a set of methods for home-range estimation and analysis of animal observation data have been developed. Whereas comparisons among the estimation methods and different estimation software are available, only the adehabitat analysis toolbox for R is under a free and open-source software license and includes established and new home-range estimation approaches, such as Kernel Density Estimation, Brownian Bridges, and Local Convex Hulls. However, R and adehabitat are command line based, which some may perceive as not very user-friendly, and provide only a limited set of functions for the analysis of home ranges with environmental geospatial data (e.g., land cover and elevation data). This article presents a free and open-source home-range analysis toolbox that focuses on the evaluation of global positioning system collar data, and integrates with a desktop geographic information system to allow data analysis beyond the creation of home ranges. The software is distributed under a free and open-source license, so research can also benefit from the toolbox because implemented algorithms can be tested directly and improved. (C) 2012 The Wildlife Society.