Conceptual and methodological tools from behavioral ecology can inform studies of habitat quality, and their potential for evaluating habitat restoration in conservation efforts is explored here. Such approaches provide mechanistic detail in understanding the relationship between organisms and their habitats and are thus more informative than correlations between density and habitat characteristics. Several Pacific salmon species have been the target of habitat restoration efforts for the past 2–3 decades, but most post‐restoration effectiveness studies have been limited to correlative data described above. In mark–recapture assays from four different study years, the affinity of sub‐yearling Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) for stream pools restored with or created by engineered log structures was greater than that for pools without restoration, though with high interannual variability. From corresponding distribution and density data, it was clear that habitat affinity data are not always concordant with single observations of density. The same was true of the correlation between either affinity or density and physical characteristics of pools, although depth and current velocity had some explanatory power for both responses in Chinook. Movement into pools by Chinook during the assays indicated that restored pools can support more immigrants at a given density than can unrestored pools; however, no such pattern emerged for steelhead. Variation among individuals in body condition has implications for population‐wide fitness, and such low variation was correlated with stronger affinity for pools in Chinook regardless of restoration status. This suggests that pools may mediate habitat‐related trade‐offs and that restoring them might have a positive effect on fitness. Thus affinity, immigration, and condition data give much‐needed mechanistic indication of habitat selection for restored habitat via an apparent capacity increase and those potential fitness benefits. This is stronger support for restoration effectiveness than density differences alone because density data (1) may simply indicate redistribution of fish from poor to good habitats and (2) are not adequate to show correlations between restoration and positive change in traits correlated with fitness.

中文翻译：

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生境亲和力和密度依赖性运动可作为鱼类栖息地恢复功效的指标

行为生态学的概念和方法学工具可以为栖息地质量研究提供信息，并在这里探讨了其在保护工作中评估栖息地恢复的潜力。这样的方法在理解生物与其栖息地之间的关系时提供了机械细节，因此比密度与栖息地特征之间的相关性更有意义。在过去的2-3年中，几种太平洋鲑鱼一直是栖息地恢复工作的目标，但是大多数恢复后的有效性研究仅限于上述相关数据。在来自四个不同研究年份的标记捕获分析中，亚一岁的奇努克鲑鱼（Oncorhynchus tschawytscha）和硬皮head鱼（O. mykiss）的亲和力），使用工程日志结构恢复或由工程日志结构创建的流池，比没有恢复的流池要大，尽管年际变化很大。从相应的分布和密度数据可以明显看出，栖息地亲和力数据并不总是与密度的单个观测值一致。池的亲和力或密度与物理特征之间的相关性也是如此，尽管深度和流速对奇努克族的两种反应都有一定的解释力。在试验期间，契努克族迁入水池表明，与未复原的水池相比，在给定的密度下，复原的水池可以支持更多的移民。但是，对于STEELHEAD，没有这种模式出现。个体之间的身体状况差异会影响整个人群的健康状况，不论恢复状态如何，这种低变异都与奇努克（Chinook）池中较强的亲和力相关。这表明水池可能会调节栖息地相关的权衡，恢复水池可能会对健康产生积极影响。因此，亲和力，移民和条件数据通过明显的容量增加和那些潜在的健身优势，为恢复的栖息地提供了迫切需要的栖息地选择机制。这比单独的密度差异有更强的支持力，因为密度数据（1）可能仅表明鱼类从不良栖息地到良好栖息地的重新分布，并且（2）不足以显示出恢复和与适应性相关的性状的正向变化之间的相关性。这表明水池可能会调节栖息地相关的权衡，恢复水池可能会对健康产生积极影响。因此，亲和力，移民和条件数据通过明显的容量增加和那些潜在的健身优势，为恢复的栖息地提供了迫切需要的栖息地选择机制。这比单独的密度差异有更强的支持力，因为密度数据（1）可能仅表明鱼类从不良栖息地到良好栖息地的重新分布，并且（2）不足以显示出恢复和与适应性相关的性状的正向变化之间的相关性。这表明水池可能会调节栖息地相关的权衡，恢复水池可能会对健康产生积极影响。因此，亲和力，移民和条件数据通过明显的容量增加和那些潜在的健身优势，为恢复的栖息地提供了迫切需要的栖息地选择机制。这比单独的密度差异有更强的支持力，因为密度数据（1）可能仅表明鱼类从不良栖息地到良好栖息地的重新分布，并且（2）不足以显示出恢复和与适应性相关的性状的正向变化之间的相关性。条件数据通过明显的容量增加和那些潜在的健身优势，为恢复后的栖息地提供了迫切需要的栖息地选择机制。这比单独的密度差异有更强的支持力，因为密度数据（1）可能仅表明鱼类从不良栖息地到良好栖息地的重新分布，并且（2）不足以显示出恢复和与适应性相关的性状的正向变化之间的相关性。条件数据通过明显的容量增加和那些潜在的健身优势，为恢复后的栖息地提供了迫切需要的栖息地选择机制。这比单独的密度差异更能为恢复效力提供支持，因为密度数据（1）可能仅表明鱼类从较差的栖息地到良好的栖息地的重新分配，而（2）不足以显示出恢复和与适应性相关的性状的正向变化之间的相关性。