Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of habitat selection.

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My research program aims to develop and test theories that can predict the future consequences of habitat and habitat change on natural populations and ecological communities. In order to do so, we must understand the ecological and evolutionary conditions that allow some species to invade existing communities while others fail. More generally, species represent evolutionary strategies whose ability to invade, or resist invasion from, communities with other species depends on how many individuals are involved (density), and the relative proportions (frequency) of each species (strategy). My team will use habitat selection in order to probe the invasion potential of such alternative strategies. Habitat selection is a suitable arena for assessing evolutionary strategies because the value of choosing one habitat over another 1, depreciates with density, and 2, depends on the choices made by other individuals. Our studies will capitalize on three different model systems.