HABITAT EVALUATION - DO USE AVAILABILITY DATA REFLECT CARRYING-CAPACITY

Habitat evaluation models are frequently based on the assumption that habitat use/availability data correspond to some fashion to the carrying capacities of habitats for populations and that the correspondence is independent of realized population density. This assumption may be misleading whenever the quality of habitat resources is not directly related to their quantity. Habitat use/availability ratios change as population density changes and may have no relation to carrying capacity when resource quality and quantity are not substitutable for one another. The authors advocate developing habitat evaluation systems that are based on a mechanistic understanding of relations between resource acquisition by individuals and the dynamics of population. -from Authors