Doctoral Dissertation: Fitness Consequences and Individual Strategies of Natal Dispersal

尽管运动行为深刻地影响着种群的持久性和遗传结构，以及有利突变、入侵物种和寄生虫的传播，但与其他行为和生活史性状相比，对运动行为的研究较少。动物必须平衡运动的成本和潜在的利益，它们的策略可能受到遗传和生态因素以及用于评估栖息地的算法的影响。研究荒漠等足类动物的分布规律。这种半产等足类动物生命周期的简单性和可操作性使其非常适合研究运动。将测量野外扩散的成本，以及栖息地选择和学习的成本。这些测量将被整合到一个动态的出生扩散模型中，以了解扩散成本和栖息地质量如何影响扩散策略和决策，以及决策如何随时间和个体条件而变化。分散成本将通过以下几个方面来衡量：a)作为分散距离或时间的函数的生存，b)为生长或吸引配偶而损失的时间，以及c)损失的能量或水及其对生存和终生生殖成功的影响。将对自然选择的繁殖洞穴地点和实验强加的随机地点的成功进行比较；还将研究过去生境质量及其变异对生境选择性和扩散距离的影响。

ABSTRACT Dingle & Baker IBN 96-25653 Fitness Consequences and Individual Strategies of Natal Dispersion Although movement behavior profoundly influences the persistence and genetic structure of populations, and the spread of favorable mutations, invading species, and parasites, it has been studied less than other behaviors and life history traits. Animals must balance costs of movement with potential benefits, and their strategies may be affected both by genetic and ecological factors, and the algorithms used to evaluate habitat. Dispersal in the desert isopod, Hemilepistus reaumuri will be studied. The simplicity and manipulability of this semelparous isopod s life cycle make it uniquely suited for study of movement. The costs of dispersal in the field, as well as habitat selection and learning will be measured. These measurements will be integrated in a dynamic model of natal dispersal to understand how dispersal costs and habitat quality affect dispersal strategies and decisions, and how decisions can change with time and individual condition. Dispersal costs will be measured in terms of a) survival as a function of distance or time dispersed, b) time lost to growth or mate attraction, and c) condition in terms of lost energy or water and its effect on survival and lifetime reproductive success. Comparisons of the success of naturally chosen breeding burrow sites and experimentally imposed random sites will be made; the effects of past experiences of habitat quality and its variability on selectivity and dispersal distance will also be examined.