The R package “phuassess” for assessing habitat selection using permutation-based combination of sign tests

Abstract

To bypass the methodological problems involved in the use of compositional data analysis by Aebischer, Robertson and Kenward (1993), the assessment of proportional habitat use is approached in a multiple-testing framework exploiting data from radio-tagged animals. The habitat use is assessed separately for each habitat type by means of the sign test to compare the proportion of use vs the proportion of availability. The resulting p-values are combined in an overall test statistic whose significance is determined permuting sample observations. The “phuassess” package for the R software, available from Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN), allows to straightforwardly perform the assessment. The package is presented and described and, in order to exemplify its application, habitat selection is assessed in a population of European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) settled in central Italy.