Nonintuitive cue use in habitat selection

There are at least two reasons why animals searching for a new habitat might be attracted to cues produced by competitors, predators, or other factors that reduce their fitness after they arrive and settle in the new habitat. First, such cues may be associated with other factors that enhance fitness after arrival. A simple model illustrates the conditions that favor indirect cue use, even when those cues are produced by factors with negative effects on fitness. Second, cues that improve the ability of dispersers to detect low-quality habitats may increase the likelihood that those individuals will be attracted to, and settle in, those habitats. In particular, attraction to detection cues produced by factors in low quality habitats is likely when dispersers are relatively nonselective when they are searching for a new habitat. In such situations, cues that improve habitat detection can lead to more immigrants settling in low-quality habitats than is predicted on the basis of the relative abundance of those habitats in the landscape, a pattern that may encourage the erroneous conclusion that individuals prefer to settle in low-quality habitats. Examples are provided illustrating the application of these ideas to problems in basic and applied ecology.