Density as a Misleading Indicator of Habitat Quality

• Published in: The Journal of wildlife management 1983-01, Vol.47 (4), p.893-901
• Main Author: Van Horne, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Breeding; Density; Habitat selection; Habitats; Population density; Species diversity; Wildlife habitats; Wildlife management; Wildlife population assessment
• ISSN: 0022-541X; 1937-2817
• DOI: 10.2307/3808148

Current methods of evaluating wildlife habitat for management purposes can be arranged in a hierarchy of increasing generality. The most general level is evaluation of wildlife habitat for entire communities on the basis of inferences drawn from vegetational structure. At the base of the hierarchy the high resolution studies, upon which accuracy at the higher hierarchical levels depends, usually assume that habitat quality for a species is positively correlated with the density of the species. If habitat quality for a wildlife species is a measure of the importance of habitat type in maintaining a particular species, habitat quality should be defined in terms of the survival and production characteristics, as well as the density, of the species occupying that habitat. Situations in which habitat quality thus defined is not expected to be positively correlated with density are described, along with the species and environmental characteristics that are most likely to produce these situations. Examples drawn from the literature in which density and habitat quality are not positively correlated are described. The positive correlation of density with habitat quality in specific instances cannot be assumed without supporting demographic data.