Crosshabitat

Crosshabitat is a concept used in ecology and conservation to describe the use of multiple habitat types by organisms, or the movement and ecological processes that cross habitat boundaries. It highlights the connections among habitats within a landscape and how organisms exploit resources distributed across them.

In practice, crosshabitat encompasses life-stage shifts, such as species that spawn or reproduce in one habitat and feed in another, and cross-habitat resource use where individuals forage across different habitat types. It also covers habitat connectivity, including corridors, edges, and mosaics that allow movement and energy or nutrient transfer between habitats.

Examples include anadromous fish like salmon that move between freshwater rivers for spawning and the ocean for feeding; many amphibians that breed in ponds but spend much of their life in surrounding forests; migratory birds that rely on stopover habitats such as wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural fields; and pollinators that use networks linking crop fields with natural or semi-natural habitats.

Understanding crosshabitat dynamics informs conservation by emphasizing landscape-scale connectivity, targeted habitat restoration, and the maintenance of ecological flows. Researchers quantify crosshabitat use through methods such as stable isotope analysis, telemetry, occupancy modeling, and landscape genetics, aiding decisions that protect species across multiple habitat types rather than in isolation.

See also ecological connectivity, habitat fragmentation, edge effects, and landscape mosaics.