As technological and statistical innovations open new avenues in movement ecology, I review the fundamental implications of the time frame of home‐range studies, with the aim of associating terminologies consistently with research objectives and methodologies. There is a fundamental distinction between (a) extrapolations of stationary distributions, associated with long time scales and aiming at asymptotic consistency, and (b) period‐specific techniques, aiming at specificity but typically sensitive to the sampling design. I then review the difference between function and utilization in home‐range studies. Most home‐range studies are based on phenomenological descriptions of the time budgets of the study animals, not the function of the visited areas. I highlight emerging trends in automated pattern‐recognition techniques for inference about function rather than utilization.

中文翻译：

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家畜研究的时间框架：从功能到利用

随着技术和统计创新开辟了运动生态学的新途径，我回顾了家庭范围研究时间框架的基本含义，目的是将术语与研究目标和方法一致地联系起来。(a) 平稳分布的外推，与长时间尺度相关并以渐近一致性为目标，和 (b) 特定时期的技术，目标是特异性但通常对抽样设计敏感。然后我回顾了家庭范围研究中功能和利用之间的差异。大多数家庭范围研究是基于对研究动物时间预算的现象学描述，而不是访问区域的功能。