Summary 1.Describing distribution and abundance is requisite to exploring interactions between organisms and their environment. Recently, the resource selection function (RSF) has emerged to replace many of the statistical procedures used to quantify resource selection by animals. 2. A RSF is defined by characteristics measured on resource units such that its value for a unit is proportional to the probability of that unit being used by an organism. It is solved using a variety of techniques, particularly the binomial generalized linear model. 3. Observing dynamics in a RSF -obtaining substantially different functions at different times or places for the same species -alerts us to the varying ecological processes that underlie resource selection. 4. We believe that there is a need for us to reacquaint ourselves with ecological theory when interpreting RSF models. We outline a suite of factors likely to govern ecologically based variation in a RSF. In particular, we draw attention to competition and density-dependent habitat selection, the role of predation, longitudinal changes in resource availability and functional responses in resource use. 5. How best to incorporate governing factors in a RSF is currently in a state of development; however, we see promise in the inclusion of random as well as fixed effects in resource selection models, and matched case-control logistic regression. 6. Investigating the basis of ecological dynamics in a RSF will allow us to develop more robust models when applied to forecasting the spatial distribution of animals. It may also further our understanding of the relative importance of ecological interactions on the distribution and abundance of species.
Habitat selection is a fundamental behaviour that links individuals to the resources required for survival and reproduction. Although natural selection acts on an individual's phenotype, research on habitat selection often pools inter-individual patterns to provide inferences on the population scale. Here, we expanded a traditional approach of quantifying habitat selection at the individual level to explore the potential for consistent individual differences of habitat selection. We used random coefficients in resource selection functions (RSFs) and repeatability estimates to test for variability in habitat selection. We applied our method to a detailed dataset of GPS relocations of brown bears (Ursus arctos) taken over a period of 6 years, and assessed whether they displayed repeatable individual differences in habitat selection toward two habitat types: bogs and recent timber-harvest cut blocks. In our analyses, we controlled for the availability of habitat, i.e. the functional response in habitat selection. Repeatability estimates of habitat selection toward bogs and cut blocks were 0.304 and 0.420, respectively. Therefore, 30.4 and 42.0 % of the population-scale habitat selection variability for bogs and cut blocks, respectively, was due to differences among individuals, suggesting that consistent individual variation in habitat selection exists in brown bears. Using simulations, we posit that repeatability values of habitat selection are not related to the value and significance of β estimates in RSFs. Although individual differences in habitat selection could be the results of non-exclusive factors, our results illustrate the evolutionary potential of habitat selection.
Summary1. Density is a fundamental driver of many ecological processes including habitat selection. Theory on density-dependent habitat selection predicts that animals should be distributed relative to profitability of habitat, resulting in reduced specialization in selection (i.e. generalization) as density increases and competition intensifies. 2. Despite mounting empirical support for density-dependent habitat selection using isodars to describe coarse-grained (interhabitat) animal movements, we know little of how density affects fine-grained resource selection of animals within habitats [e.g. using resource selection functions (RSFs)]. 3. Using isodars and RSFs, we tested whether density simultaneously modified habitat selection and within-habitat resource selection in a rapidly growing population of feral horses (Equus ferus caballus Linnaeus; Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada; 42% increase in population size from 2008 to 2012). 4. Among three heterogeneous habitat zones on Sable Island describing population clusters distributed along a west-east resource gradient (west-central-east), isodars revealed that horses used available habitat in a density-dependent manner. Intercepts and slopes of isodars demonstrated a pattern of habitat selection that first favoured the west, which generalized to include central and east habitats with increasing population size consistent with our understanding of habitat quality on Sable Island. 5. Resource selection functions revealed that horses selected for vegetation associations similarly at two scales of extent (total island and within-habitat zone). When densities were locally low, horses were able to select for sites of the most productive forage (grasslands) relative to those of poorer quality. However, as local carrying capacity was approached, selection for the best of available forage types weakened while selection for lower-quality vegetation increased (and eventually exceeded that of grasslands). 6. Isodars can effectively describe coarse-grained habitat selection in large mammals. Our study also shows that the main predictions of density-dependent habitat selection are highly relevant to our interpretation of RSFs in space and time. At low but not necessarily high population size, density will be a leading indicator of habitat quality. Fitness maximization from specialist vs. generalist strategies of habitat and resource selection may well be apparent at multiple spatial extents and grains of resolution.
The current rapid rate of human-driven environmental change presents wild populations with novel conditions and stresses. Theory and experimental evidence for evolutionary rescue present a promising case for species facing environmental change persisting via adaptation. Here, we assess the potential for evolutionary rescue in wild vertebrates. Available information on evolutionary rescue was rare and restricted to abundant and highly fecund species that faced severe intentional anthropogenic selective pressures. However, examples from adaptive tracking in common species and genetic rescues in species of conservation concern provide convincing evidence in favour of the mechanisms of evolutionary rescue. We conclude that low population size, long generation times and limited genetic variability will result in evolutionary rescue occurring rarely for endangered species without intervention. Owing to the risks presented by current environmental change and the possibility of evolutionary rescue in nature, we suggest means to study evolutionary rescue by mapping genotype → phenotype → demography → fitness relationships, and priorities for applying evolutionary rescue to wild populations.
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