A chi-square goodness-of-fit analysis of dependent resource selection data

The chi(2) goodness-of-fit test is commonly used for testing if animals use resources in proportion to availability. This method assumes independence of resource selection among animals. In reality, this assumption is violate d if animals display antisocial or gregarious behavior. Data from a study o f sharp-tailed arouse in eastern Washington suggested some dependency among observations. Realizing that this dependency can have a great influence on inference for resource selection data, we develop a technique to incorpora te information on dependent observations through a simple adjustment of the usual goodness-of-fit statistic. Lte also demonstrate how confidence inter vals on proportional use may be modified for dependent observations. Simula tion is used to compare our method to other methods.