Integrating across Life-History Stages: Consequences of Natal Habitat Effects on Dispersal

Abstract

Ecological and evolutionary processes are affected by forces acting at both local and regional scales, yet our understanding of how these scales interact has remained limited. These processes are fundamentally linked through individuals that develop as juve niles in one environment and then either remain in the natal habitat or disperse to new environments. Empirical studies in a diverse range of organisms have demonstrated that the conditions experienced in the natal habitat can have profound effects on the adult phenotype. This environmentally induced phenotypic variation can in turn affect the probability that an individual will disperse to a new environment and the ecological and evolutionary impact of that individual in the new environment. We synthesize the literature on this process and propose a framework for exploring the linkage between local devel opmental environment and dispersal. We then discuss the ecological and evolutionary implications of dispersal asymmetries generated by the effects of natal habitat conditions on individual phenotypes. Our review indicates that the influence of natal habitat conditions on adult phenotypes may be a highly general mechanism affecting the flow of individuals between populations. The wealth of information already gathered on how local conditions affect adult phenotype can and should be integrated into the study of dispersal as a critical force in ecology and evolution.

Foraging Rates of Larval Dragonfly Colonists Are Positively Related to Habitat Isolation: Results from a Landscape‐Level Experiment

“…Growing evidence from a range of taxa demonstrates that dispersers often differ phenotypically from individuals that do not disperse (Benard and McCauley 2008;Clobert et al 2009) and that individuals with apparently similar capacities for dispersal may differ widely in how far they actually travel (Mabry and Stamps 2008). Behavioral, mor phological, or physiological differences between dispersers and nondispersers suggest that the interactions between dispersers and residents in the newly colonized patch may be quantitatively or qualitatively different than expected based on average values of these traits taken from both dispersers and nondispersers.…”

Carryover effects drive competitive dominance in spatially structured environments

“…Implicit in this case, and for most of spatial ecology, is that the interactions and population dynamics within a habitat are solely determined by the quality of that habitat. However, this approach ignores the often substantial variation in individual traits and fitness within and across habitats in a natural system, which could alter community dynamics and composition (12-15).In metacommunities, one important source of individual variation arises from "carryover effects," which can occur when early-life (natal) experience affects later adult traits in a different time or place (16,17). Carryover effects of natal habitat quality present an interesting case of individual variation, as by definition their occurrence is mediated by spatial variation and dispersal (16,17).…”

“…Carryover effects of natal habitat quality present an interesting case of individual variation, as by definition their occurrence is mediated by spatial variation and dispersal (16,17). For example, conditions experienced in the natal environment (e.g., resource quality, weather, or predation risk) can carry over into new environments by altering the adult traits of individuals, including emigrants (16, 18).…”

“…In metacommunities, one important source of individual variation arises from "carryover effects," which can occur when early-life (natal) experience affects later adult traits in a different time or place (16,17). Carryover effects of natal habitat quality present an interesting case of individual variation, as by definition their occurrence is mediated by spatial variation and dispersal (16,17).…”

“…Carryover effects of natal habitat quality present an interesting case of individual variation, as by definition their occurrence is mediated by spatial variation and dispersal (16,17). For example, conditions experienced in the natal environment (e.g., resource quality, weather, or predation risk) can carry over into new environments by altering the adult traits of individuals, including emigrants (16,18). These environmentally induced effects operate through mechanisms, such as plasticity and body condition (18), and can alter many key life-history traits, including morphology, body size and allometry, diet, antipredator defenses, fecundity, or survival (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27).…”