Habitat selection in a variable environment

Abstract

A Monte Carlo simulation scheme was utilized to determine optimal strategies of habitat utilization in a variable environment. The model allows for differences in quality among habitats at any one time and for varying levels of environmental variance and autocorrelation. When habitats are on the average equal in quality, tracking of temporal fluctuations in environment through variable habitat selection is universally advantageous with the gain in fitness limited by environmental variance, autocorrelation, and number of available habitats. Average differences in quality among habitats will restrict the advantage of variable habitat utilization (over complete usage of the average better habitat) to cases of high environmental autocorrelation or high ratios of enviromental variance to mean habitat separation. Extending an earlier prediction of Levins (1965), the average heterozygosity per individual in a natural population should increase with increasing environmental variance.