NCSU Course ZO410 Lecture: 
Spatial Distribution/Habitat Selection

Habitat Selection: basis for choice:

• Shelter
• Food
• Mate availability
• Environmental conditions

Aphid example-- leaf choice

Natal Dispersal - leaving homesite
Natal Philopatry - remaining in birth area

Why would animals disperse?

• costly
• must learn sources of food
• predation
• encounter social strangers

Hypotheses:

1) Reduce Inbreeding
    Birds vs. Mammals
    sex bias
    monogamy vs. polygyny
    father's presence

2) Reduce Mate Competition
    monogamous vs. polygynous

3) Reduce Competition with Parents
    Oedipus Hypothesis:
    Monog. Birds, Polyg. Birds
    Monog, Mammals, Polyg. Mammals
 

Examples:

• Belding's Ground Squirrels
• Lions
• Prairie and Pine Voles

Selection of habitat

• Instinct /Heredity
• Learning: Habitat Imprinting experiments
• Social facilitation  -> Wood frogs
• Tradition -> sheep vs. deer/moose

Habitat modeling
Habitats are patches of use--

•  Function of population density
•  Optimal foraging theory/ Economics