Background: Habitat characteristics can vary over small spatial scales at which gene flow is expected to swamp any effect of divergent natural selection. However, fine-grained (‘microgeographic’) adaptive divergence may still be feasible if individuals exhibit dispersal behaviours that improve the match between their phenotype and habitat. For example, threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus acule...

—We studied nest site selection by Semipalmated Plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus) to compare microhabitat characteristics at nest and random sites, and to compare successful and unsuccessful nests on the northern shore of Akimiski Island, Nunavut, during 2002. Nesting birds selected sites with more pebbles and less vegetative cover than randomly available in the environment. Nest sites also had...

Many small lizards live in structurally and thermally heterogeneous environments where they can select preferred microhabitats surface temperatures to optimize their activity. We examined microhabitat selection analyzed selected by two ecologically similar lacertid species, Iberolacerta horvathi Podarcis muralis, at three sites different ecological contexts: allotopic syntopic conditions. spati...

Basking and retreat sites constitute a key resource in the habitat of any ectotherm. Identifying elements that are used modelling microhabitat selection species is crucial for assessing impact anthropogenic disturbances at population level and, therefore, focusing on conservation efforts. We investigated how structural attributes biotic factors influence probability basking use by Phymaturus pa...