Effects of mis-alignment between dispersal traits and landscape structure on dispersal success in fragmented landscapes
Authored by Justine L Atkins, George L W Perry, Todd E Dennis
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181702
Sponsors:
No sponsors listed
Platforms:
NetLogo
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Flow charts
Model Code URLs:
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.rp8mp68
Abstract
Dispersal is fundamental to population dynamics and hence extinction
risk. The dispersal success of animals depends on the biophysical
structure of their environments and their biological traits; however,
comparatively little is known about how evolutionary trade-offs among
suites of biological traits affect dispersal potential. We developed a
spatially explicit agent-based simulation model to evaluate the
influence of trade-offs among a suite of biological traits on the
dispersal success of vagile animals in fragmented landscapes. We
specifically chose traits known to influence dispersal success: speed of
movement, perceptual range, risk of predation, need to forage during
dispersal, and amount of suitable habitat required for successful
settlement in a patch. Using the metric of relative dispersal success
rate, we assessed how the costs and benefits of evolutionary investment
in these biological traits varied with landscape structure. In
heterogeneous environments with low habitat availability and scattered
habitat patches, individuals with more equal allocation across the trait
spectrum dispersed most successfully. Our analyses suggest that the
dispersal success of animals in heterogeneous environments is highly
dependent on hierarchical interactions between trait trade-offs and the
geometric configurations of the habitat patches in the landscapes
through which they disperse. In an applied sense, our results indicate
potential for ecological mis-alignment between species' evolved suites
of dispersal-related traits and altered environmental conditions as a
result of rapid global change. In many cases identifying the processes
that shape patterns of animal dispersal, and the consequences of abiotic
changes for these processes, will require consideration of complex
relationships among a range of organism-specific and environmental
factors.
Tags
Agent-based model
connectivity
models
movement
Habitat fragmentation
Metapopulation
Dispersal
Trade-off
Trade-offs
Eco-evolutionary dynamics
Species responses
Life-histories
Perceptual range
Biological trait
Spatially
explicit simulation model
Virtual ecology