Habitat Selection and Animal Distribution in the Sea: the Evolution of a Concept

Abstract

SynopsisThis paper considers the evolution of the concept that the local distribution of animals in the sea is largely determined by the habitat preferences and behaviour of the animals themselves. Examples are mainly taken from studies on invertebrate animals. Nineteenth-century investigations on the behavioural responses of micro-organisms to such variables as light, salinity and oxygen, stimulated analogus investigations on the behaviour of marine invertebrates. From 1920 onwards, various lines of research have developed, notably on the settlement of marine larvae, but also on habitat selection by adult planktonic and benthic invertebrates, and on host finding by parasites and commensals.Attention has been drawn to the relevance of genetic studies on behaviour, and to the significance of investigations on terrestrial animals. A synoptic view of habitat selection has been advanced in which animals respond to a complex of interacting stimuli from their physical, chemical and biological environment.Simple models have been presented which consider the influence of dilution of the preferred habitat by less preferred alternatives, alteration of the rate of change of a habitat, the relation between habitat preferences and lethal limits, and the colonisation of new habitats.