Decisions made during natal dispersal highly influence the future fitness of the animal. The selection of future home range affects, for example, food supply and mating success. In order to select between potential sites, dispersing individuals may use different search strategies, and for example, aim to compare quality of different sites by revisiting them. Alternatively, dispersers visit new sites without comparison until a suitable site is located. By using radio telemetry, we studied search strategies during natal dispersal in both urban and rural environments. We examined what kind of sites juvenile red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) choose as their home range from all visited sites and whether they display revisit behavior during natal dispersal. We found that most of the dispersing individuals perform revisits while searching for the settlement site. In the rural study area, there were also individuals (mostly long-distance dispersers) that did not perform revisits and settled in the last visited area. The landscape characteristics did not explain the amount of revisits individuals made, but the amount of revisits declined with site’s distance to natal nest and dispersal distance of individuals. The effect of landscape characteristics on settlement decision was small, but surprisingly, juvenile red squirrels in the rural area settled in sites with more built area compared with sites only visited. However, the decision-making of red squirrels during natal dispersal seems to be driven mainly by other factors (potentially food availability and conspecific density) than landscape characteristics. We conclude that revisiting behavior is linked to dispersal strategy of red squirrels and can differ between the sexes and habitats of the species. Animals often choose their habitat from among multiple alternative habitats and potential settlement sites, and the decisions made during dispersal highly influence the future fitness of the animal. We examined what kind of areas juvenile red squirrels choose as their home range in both urban and rural environments and whether they display revisit behavior when selecting their home range from many alternatives. We found that search strategies during natal dispersal can vary between individuals and habitats. Surprisingly, juvenile red squirrels in the rural area settled in sites with more built area compared with the sites only visited. However, for red squirrel, decisions made by juveniles during the search of a home range are mainly influenced by other factors than landscape composition.

中文翻译：

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红松鼠出生散播过程中城乡环境的搜索策略

在出生扩散期间做出的决定会极大地影响动物未来的健康状况。例如，未来家庭范围的选择会影响食物供应和交配成功。为了在潜在站点之间进行选择，分散的个人可能会使用不同的搜索策略，例如，旨在通过重新访问来比较不同站点的质量。或者，分散者不进行比较就访问新站点，直到找到合适的站点。通过使用无线电遥测，我们研究了城市和农村环境中出生扩散期间的搜索策略。我们检查了幼年红松鼠 (Sciurus vulgaris) 从所有访问过的地点选择什么样的地点作为它们的栖息地，以及它们在出生扩散期间是否表现出重访行为。我们发现大多数分散的个体在寻找定居点的同时进行了重新访问。在农村研究区，也有个体（多为远距离散布者）未进行重访而在上次访问区落户。景观特征并不能解释个体的重访量，但重访量随着站点距出生巢的距离和个体的分散距离而下降。景观特征对定居决策的影响很小，但令人惊讶的是，与仅参观的地点相比，农村地区的少年红松鼠定居在建筑面积更多的地点。然而，红松鼠在出生扩散期间的决策似乎主要受其他因素（潜在的食物供应和同种密度）而非景观特征的驱动。我们得出结论，重新访问行为与红松鼠的分散策略有关，并且可能因物种的性别和栖息地而异。动物通常会从多个替代栖息地和潜在定居点中选择栖息地，而在分散过程中做出的决定会极大地影响动物未来的健康状况。我们研究了红松鼠在城市和农村环境中选择什么样的区域作为它们的栖息地，以及它们在从多种选择中选择它们的栖息地时是否表现出重游行为。我们发现出生分散期间的搜索策略可能因个体和栖息地而异。出人意料的是，与仅参观的地点相比，农村地区的少年红松鼠定居在建筑面积更多的地点。然而，对于红松鼠来说，幼体在寻找栖息地的过程中做出的决定主要受景观构成以外的其他因素的影响。