The evolution of dispersal distance in spatially-structured populations
Authored by Calvin Dytham, Justin MJ Travis, DJ Murrell
Date Published: 2002
DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2002.970209.x
Sponsors:
Central Science Laboratory (Defra Seedcorn)
United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Most evolutionary models of dispersal have concentrated on dispersal
rate, with emigration being either global or restricted to nearest
neighbours. Yet most organisms fall into an intermediate region where
most dispersal is local but there is a wide range of dispersal
distances. We use an individual-based model with 2500 patches each with
identical local dynamics and show that the dispersal distance is under
selection pressure. The dispersal distance that evolves is critically
dependent on the ecological dynamics. When the cost of dispersal
increases linearly with distance, selection is for short-distance
dispersal under stable and damped local dynamics but longer distance
dispersal is favoured as local dynamics become more complex. For the
cases of stable, damped and periodic patch dynamics global patch
synchrony occurs even with very short-distance dispersal. Increasing the
scale of dispersal for chaotic local dynamics increases the scale of
synchrony but global synchrony does not neccesarily occur. We discuss
these results in the light of other possible causes of dispersal and
argue for the importance of incorporating non-equilibrium population
dynamics into evolutionary models of dispersal distance.
Tags
Competition
models
Dynamics
Metapopulation
patterns
Variability
Persistence
Insect
Synchrony
Environmental correlation