Abstract
Models describing the evolution of dispersal strategies have mostly focused on the evolution of dispersal rates. Taking trees as a model for organisms with undirected, passive dispersal, we have developed an individual-based, spatially explicit simulation tool to investigate the evolution of the dispersal kernel, P(r), and its resulting cumulative seed-density distribution, D(r). Simulations were run on a variety of fractal landscapes differing in the fraction of suitable habitat and the spatial autocorrelation. Starting from a uniform D(r), evolution led to an increase in the fraction of seeds staying in the home cell, a reduction of the dispersal mortality (arrival in unsuitable habitat), and the evolution of 'fat-tailed' D(r) in autocorrelated landscapes and approximately uniform D(r) in random landscapes. The evolutionary process was characterized by long periods of stasis with a few bouts of rapid change in the dispersal rate.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (284.3 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Ezoe H. Optimal dispersal range and seed size in a stable environment . J Theor Biol. 1998 Feb 7;190(3):287–293. doi: 10.1006/jtbi.1997.0553. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gandon S, Michalakis Y. Evolutionarily stable dispersal rate in a metapopulation with extinctions and kin competition . J Theor Biol. 1999 Aug 7;199(3):275–290. doi: 10.1006/jtbi.1999.0960. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- doi: 10.1098/rspb.1998.0258. [DOI] [PMC free article] [Google Scholar]
- doi: 10.1098/rspb.1999.0696. [DOI] [PMC free article] [Google Scholar]
- Parvinen K. Evolution of migration in a metapopulation. Bull Math Biol. 1999 May;61(3):531–550. doi: 10.1006/bulm.1999.0100. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ronce O, Perret F, Olivieri I., I Evolutionarily Stable Dispersal Rates Do Not Always Increase with Local Extinction Rates. Am Nat. 2000 Apr;155(4):485–496. doi: 10.1086/303341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Savill N. J., Hogeweg P. Spatially induced speciation prevents extinction: the evolution of dispersal distance in oscillatory predator-prey models. Proc Biol Sci. 1998 Jan 7;265(1390):25–32. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1998.0259. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]