Habitat preferences

Species of birds and mammals vary in distribution and habitat preferences and of course can only... 

Zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio Exposed for 5 weeks to 5, 25, 125, 625, or 3125 pg/L under conditions of light and dark habitat preferences After 1 week, all atrazine-treated fish significantly avoided light habitats when compared to controls this became more pronounced after 5 weeks of exposure 25... 

Many fruits attract birds by colors, odors, and taste. After consuming the fruit, the birds will disperse the seeds to new habitat. Preference orders exist, and some fruits are rarely eaten by birds (see p. 306). For instance, the flavor of buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica, ranked lowest of 11 fruit extracts tested in blackbirds, Turdus merula, and a song thrush, Turdusphilomelus (Sorensen, 1983). Least preferred fruits contain toxins that deter birds, perhaps to avoid seeds being dispersed to unfavorable habitat. For instance, it is disadvantageous for forest... 

Stanhope, M.J., Hartwick, B., and Baillie, D., Molecular phylogeographic evidence for multiple shifts in habitat preference in the diversification of an amphipod species, Mol. Ecol., 2, 99, 1993. 

Shepherd, S. A. and Turner, J. A., Studies on Southern Australian abalone (genus Haliotis). VI. Habitat preference, abundance and predators on juveniles, J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 93, 285, 1985. 

Recently, metapopulation models have been successfully applied to assess the risks of contaminants to aquatic populations. A metapopulation model to extrapolate responses of the aquatic isopod Asellus aquaticus as observed in insecticide-stressed mesocosms to assess its recovery potential in drainage ditches, streams, and ponds is provided by van den Brink et al. (2007). They estimated realistic pyrethroid concentrations in these different types of aquatic ecosystems by means of exposure models used in the European legislation procedure for pesticides. It appeared that the rate of recovery of Asellus in pyrethroid-stressed drainage ditches was faster in the field than in the isolated mesocosms. However, the rate of recovery in drainage ditches was calculated to be lower than that in streams and ponds (van den Brink et al. 2007). In another study, the effects of flounder foraging behavior and habitat preferences on exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments were assessed by Linkov et al. (2002) using a tractable individual-based metapopulation model. In this study, the use of a spatially and temporally explicit model reduced the estimate of risk by an order of magnitude as compared with a nonspatial model (Linkov et al. 2002). 

Kotta, J., Paahne, T., Martin, G., Makinen, A. 2000. Major changes in macroalgae community composition affect the food and habitat preference of Idotea baltica. International Review of Hydrobiology, 85, 697-705. 

Our study (Pazoutova et al., 2000) established the population structure of C. purpurea and characterized the groups and isolates by host or habitat preferences, phenotypic traits used in previous studies (conidial morphology, alkaloid type, properties of sclerotia), as well as by DNA analysis (using RAPD and EcoRI restriction site polymorphism in the 5.8S rDNA). Thus, the ambiguous, even contradictory groupings found by previous researchers and based on only one or two characters were incorporated into one system. Three groups were identified ... 

Sillen A, Hall G, Richardson S, Armstrong R (1998) Sr/ Sr ratios in modem and fossil food-webs of the Sterkfontein Valley implications for early hominid habitat preference. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 62 2463-2473... 

Heil, C.A., Bird, P, and Dennison, W.C. Macroalgal habitat preference of ciguatera dinoflagellates at Heron Island, a coral cay in the southeastern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, in Harmful Algae, Reguera, B., Blanco, J., Fernandez, M.L. and Wyatt, T. Eds., Xunta de Galicia, I.O.C. of UNESCO, 1998, pp. 52-53. 

As already pointed out in the introduction, many peracarid species adjust their behavior and habitat preferences when chemical cues reveal the presence of predators (e.g., Baumgartner et al. 2003 see Hazlett, Chap. 18). Besides cues from predators themselves, substances leaking from crushed conspecifics also induce antipredator behavior in the amphipod Gammarus lacustris (Wisenden et al. 2001). Although less effective, cues from closely related species had similar behavioral effects (Wisenden et al. 1999). 

Species-specificity of chemicals and their role in reproductive isolation While there are general patterns in the chemical communication systems, there also seem to be species-specific differences. Some amphipod species appear unable to distinguish between mates and individuals of closely related species (Kolding 1986). Also in some isopod species, males pair with females from closely related species (e.g., Hargeby and Erlandsson 2006), which suggests that mate recognition via chemical cues is not (yet) fully developed. Possibly, selection on contact pheromones has been weak, because other life-history traits ensure reproductive isolation under natural conditions (e.g., size, habitat preference). 

Mercury levels for smallmouth bass from several lakes around the State of New York were compared. Smallmouth bass are used for comparison based on the following assumptions First, smallmouth bass represented the largest sample size of all species and displayed the greatest Statewide distribution as a result of its wide range of habitat preference. Secondly, smallmouth bass are considered a top level predator and game species, likely to contain appreciable amounts of mercury if present in the environment. 

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