Dispersal among habitats varying in fitness: reciprocating migration through ideal habitat selection
Author
Summary, in English
Current evolutionary models of dispersal set the ends of a continuum where the number of individuals emigrating from a habitat either equals the number of individuals immigrating (balanced dispersal) or where emigrants flow from a source habitat to a corresponding sink. Theories of habitat selection suggest a more sophisticated conditional strategy where individuals disperse from habitats where they have the greatest impact on fitness to habitats where their per capita impact is lower. Asymmetries between periods of population growth and decline result in a reciprocating dispersal strategy where the direction of migration is reversed as populations wax and wane. Thus, for example, if net migration of individuals flows from high- to low-density habitats during periods of population growth, net migration will flow in the opposite direction during population decline. Stochastic simulations and analytical models of reciprocating dispersal demonstrate that fitness, carrying capacity, stochastic dynamics, and interference from dominants interact to determine whether dispersal is balanced between habitats, or whether one habitat or the other acts as a net donor of dispersing individuals. While the pattern of dispersal may vary, each is consistent with an underlying strategy of density-dependent habitat selection.
Publishing year
2004
Language
English
Pages
559-575
Publication/Series
Oikos
Volume
107
Issue
3
Full text
- Available as PDF - 507 kB
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Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Biological Sciences
Status
Published
Research group
- Theoretical Population Ecology and Evolution Group
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1600-0706