Conspecific Attraction is a Missing Component in Wildlife Habitat Modeling

Wildlife biologists use knowledge about wildlife–habitat relationships to create habitat models to predict species occurrence across a landscape. Researchers attribute limitations in predictive ability of a habitat model to data deficiencies, missing parameters, error introduced by specifications of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of wildlife management Vol. 72; no. 1; pp. 331 - 336
Main Authors:	Campomizzi, Andrew J, Butcher, Jerrod A, Farrell, Shannon L, Snelgrove, Amy G, Collier, Bret A, Gutzwiller, Kevin J, Morrison, Michael L, Wilkins, R. Neal
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK The Wildlife Society 01-01-2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:	Animal behavior Applied ecology autologistic model Biologists clustered distribution COMMENTARY conspecific attraction Ecological modeling Environmental protection Habitat availability Habitat conservation habitat modeling Habitat selection Habitats Influence Literature reviews Measurement errors model error Modeling Parametric models Predator-prey interactions R&D Remote sensing Research & development Species Specifications Statistical models Studies Warblers Wildlife biology Wildlife habitats
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Summary:	Wildlife biologists use knowledge about wildlife–habitat relationships to create habitat models to predict species occurrence across a landscape. Researchers attribute limitations in predictive ability of a habitat model to data deficiencies, missing parameters, error introduced by specifications of the statistical model, and natural variation. Few wildlife biologists, however, have incorporated intra- and interspecific interactions (e.g., conspecific attraction, competition, predator–prey relationships) to increase predictive accuracy of habitat models. Based on our literature review and preliminary data analysis, conspecific attraction can be a primary factor influencing habitat selection in wildlife. Conspecific attraction can lead to clustered distributions of wildlife within available habitat, reducing the predictive ability of habitat models based on vegetative and geographic parameters alone. We suggest wildlife biologists consider incorporating a parameter in habitat models for the clustered distribution of individuals within available habitat and investigate the mechanisms leading to clustered distributions of species, especially conspecific attraction.
Bibliography:	ArticleID:JWMG1548 istex:E8A3861A7BE483EB684B352943013CD9E2FDB8CD ark:/67375/WNG-M6H56X5P-3 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0022-541X 1937-2817
DOI:	10.2193/2007-204