Movement patterns are varied and complex, and so movement models necessarily are simplified representations of any real movement pattern. Many model results are robust to different levels of movement complexity, but not always. The algorithms underlying movement decisions by individuals or subgroups in a population can have profound effects on the distribution of the population and the interaction patterns between that population and the landscape in which it resides. In order to understand population dynamics, it is thus often crucial that the movement behaviours of individuals or subgroups in the population be modeled with the appropriate level of detail. In this paper, I present models that encompass a range of formulations for organism movement, and a range of levels of detail. I focus on the role played by the movement patterns in shaping the modelling results, and the changes that follow from modifications of the movement patterns. I find that movement patterns are important at all scales, and even in problems that do not intially present themselves as being chiefly about organism displacement.
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