Abstract The conservation of grasslands is a concern worldwide as they are threatened by climate change and the expansion of intensive agricultural practices. The management of these areas must take into account the decisional process of habitat selection by individual organisms to identify potential ecological traps or underused habitats. Organisms that live in heterogeneous environments must select their breeding habitat based on cues that reflect habitat quality. In dynamic ecosystems such as grasslands, environmental cues used by individuals should show a strong temporal autocorrelation, such that their characteristics during breeding can be predicted earlier in the season. Our objective was to test if habitat features that explain grassland birds' distribution during the nesting and chick-rearing period could be predicted from the habitat features available on territory settlement. In western France, we analysed the relationships between the occurrence, richness and abundance of four passerine species, and vegetation structure and composition during chick-rearing period. We then analysed the temporal autocorrelation of vegetation features to determine whether the cues used during the settlement period reliably predicted the vegetation features encountered at later stages of breeding. We found that birds selected habitats characterized by a low cover of grasses, but did not respond to the physical structure of vegetation. The composition of vegetation was also the only variable that exhibited temporal autocorrelation over the course of the season, suggesting that individuals may rely on this feature to select optimal breeding habitats. Our results suggest that in dynamic environments, and in the absence of breeding experience or public information, animals can choose their breeding habitat based on a simple assessment of vegetation composition. A detailed knowledge of the underlying drivers of habitat selection is essential to manage habitats, identify potential ecological traps, and enhance the attractiveness of areas especially those under agri-environmental schemes.

中文翻译：

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动态季节性环境中的栖息地选择：植被组成驱动漫滩草原雀类群落繁殖栖息地的选择

摘要 草原保护受到气候变化和集约化农业扩张的威胁，是世界范围内关注的问题。这些地区的管理必须考虑到个体生物选择栖息地的决策过程，以确定潜在的生态陷阱或未充分利用的栖息地。生活在异质环境中的生物必须根据反映栖息地质量的线索来选择它们的繁殖栖息地。在草原等动态生态系统中，个体使用的环境线索应该表现出很强的时间自相关性，这样它们在繁殖过程中的特征就可以在季节的早期进行预测。我们的目标是测试是否可以解释草原鸟类的栖息地特征 筑巢和雏鸡饲养期间的分布可以从领土定居点上可用的栖息地特征进行预测。在法国西部，我们分析了雏鸡饲养期四种雀形目物种的发生、丰富度和丰度与植被结构和组成之间的关系。然后，我们分析了植被特征的时间自相关性，以确定在定居期间使用的线索是否可靠地预测了繁殖后期遇到的植被特征。我们发现鸟类选择以草覆盖率低为特征的栖息地，但对植被的物理结构没有反应。植被的组成也是唯一一个在季节过程中表现出时间自相关的变量，表明个体可能依赖此特征来选择最佳繁殖栖息地。我们的结果表明，在动态环境中，在缺乏繁殖经验或公共信息的情况下，动物可以根据对植被组成的简单评估来选择繁殖栖息地。详细了解栖息地选择的潜在驱动因素对于管理栖息地、识别潜在的生态陷阱和提高地区的吸引力，尤其是那些在农业环境计划下的地区的吸引力至关重要。