Conspecifics and Habitat Models

Here is a good paper on habitat model that I ran in to recently. It is a 2008 paper worth a read. The authors say even though 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 have incorporated intra- and interspecific interactions (e.g., conspecific attraction, competition, predator-prey relationships) to increase predictive accuracy of habitat models.

The authors reiterate that conspecific attraction can be a primary factor influencing habitat selection in wildlife. It can lead to clustered distributions of wildlife within available habitat, reducing the predictive ability of habitat models based on vegetative and geographic parameters alone.

The authors suggest that 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.

Journal of Wildlife Management (2008) Volume: 72, Issue: 1, Publisher: Journal of Wildlife Management, Pages: 331-336