Habitat use by European wildcats (Felis silvestris) in central Spain: what is the relative importance of forest variables?— Habitat preferences of wildcats are controversial. Although they are usually considered a forest species, alternative environments such as scrubland can be preferred. In this study we compared five habitat types in relation to wildcat occurrence. Sampling was carried out b...

BACKGROUND Habitat selection and its adaptive outcomes are crucial features for animal life-history strategies. Nevertheless, congruence between habitat preferences and breeding success has been rarely demonstrated, which may result from the single-scale evaluation of animal choices. As habitat selection is a complex multi-scale process in many groups of animal species, investigating adaptivene...

Habitat evaluation of wadeable streams based on accepted protocols provides a rapid and widely used adjunct to biological assessment. However, little effort has been devoted to habitat evaluation in non-wadeable rivers, where it is likely that protocols will differ and field logistics will be more challenging. We developed and tested a non-wadeable habitat index (NWHI) for rivers of Michigan, w...

Models predicting current habitat availability for four prominent tick species in Africa (Boophilus decoloratus, Amblyomma hebraeum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Hyalomma truncatum) were constructed using remotely sensed information about abiotic variables and a point-to-point similarity metric. Year-to-year variations in the forecasted habitat suitability over the period 1983-2000 show a c...

This paper explores the effects of spatial resolution on the performance and applicability of habitat models in wildlife management and conservation. A Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model for the Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, is presented. The model was exclusively built on non-spatial, small-scale variables of forest structure and without any consideration of...

1. We investigated the diversity and distribution of freshwater mussels at 40 sites in an agricultural catchment, the River Raisin in south-eastern Michigan, to relate mussel assemblages and individual taxa to reach and catchment-scale variables. Unionids were surveyed by timed searches in 100-m reaches, and in-stream and riparian habitat were quantified as well as flow, water chemistry and cha...

Recognition and analysis of spatial autocorrelation has defined a new paradigm in ecology. Attention to spatial pattern can lead to insights that would have been otherwise overlooked, while ignoring space may lead to false conclusions about ecological relationships. We used Gaussian spatial autoregressive models, fit with widely available software, to examine breeding habitat relationships for ...