The evolutionary and population ecology of habitat selection

所有生物都需要生存的空间，而且在生命周期的某个阶段，它们都有能力从一个栖息地迁移到另一个栖息地。生境所占的范围和生境之间的分布，决定了物种的地理范围，以及它们的种群规模如何随着时间和地点的变化而变化。但生态学家才刚刚开始了解动物选择栖息地的规则，它们的选择如何响应环境变化，栖息地和栖息地之间的移动如何影响种群密度。大多数研究这些问题的研究人员试图仅通过理论模型、物种当前分布图或实验室中对个体的观察来获得洞察力。我们的方法是完全不同的。我们结合理论、计算机模拟、控制实验和对个体的详细观察来评估栖息地选择。为了做到这一点，我们设计并建造了世界上第一个居住空间；专门为研究哺乳动物的生境和生境选择而设计的野外设施。栖息地的24个围场之间的门允许我们操纵可供个体使用的栖息地选择。Habitron配备了最新的技术，用计算机程序模拟栖息地选择，监测个体的运动，并评估它们的成功。我们将使用生境器来了解动物是否选择了最大限度地提高其进化适应性的栖息地，动物对斑块的利用如何衡量其栖息地的质量，环境变化如何改变栖息地选择，以及栖息地选择如何帮助调节种群密度。然后，我们将对自由生活种群的结果进行实地验证，以评估我们对栖息地选择的理解如何有助于自然种群的保护和管理。

All organisms require space in which to live and all are capable, at some point in their life cycle, of moving from one habitat to another.  The range of habitats occupied, and dispersal among habitats, determines the geographical range of species and how the sizes of their populations change from place to place and through time.  But ecologists are only beginning to learn the rules that animals use to select habitat, how their choice responds to environmental change, and how habitat, and movement among habitats, influences population density.  Most researchers studying these issues attempt to gain insight using only theoretical models, maps of the current distribution of species, or observations on individuals in the lab.  Our approach is fundamentally different.  We merge theory, computer simulations, controlled experiments and detailed observations on individuals to assess habitat selection.  To do this, we designed and built the world's first Habitron; a field facility designed explicitly to study habitat and habitat selection on mammals.  Gates between the Habitron's 24 enclosures allow us to manipulate the habitat choices that are available to individuals.  The Habitron is equipped with the most recent technologies to simulate habitat selection with computer programs, to monitor the movement of individuals, and to evaluate their success.  We will use the Habitron to learn whether animals choose habitats that maximize their evolutionary fitness, how  patch use by animals can measure the quality of their habitat, how environmental change modifies habitat choice, and how habitat selection helps to regulate population density.  We will then ground-truth our results on free-living populations to evaluate how our understanding of habitat selection can aid in the conservation and management of natural populations.