Dispersal, defined as any movement of an individual over various spatial scales that may contribute to gene flow, is an essential component of species ecology. It provides a mechanism that allows organisms to track optimal environmental conditions, regulate population density and interactions with conspecifics, and colonise new areas. Dispersal ability varies widely among individuals, and this variation has been strongly linked to a suite of physiological, morphological, and behavioural traits that together constitute a dispersal syndrome. The evolution of dispersal-related traits can occur not only by natural selection, but also by spatial sorting, where individuals that have traits facilitating their dispersal accumulate at range edges and are limited proximally to mating with other dispersive individuals. The relationships among traits constituting the dispersal syndrome, their dynamics with age, and evolution under spatial selection on dispersal have not been comprehensively explored. Furthermore, integrating evolution into the study of dispersal is imperative to understand the mechanisms that select or constrain the evolution of dispersalrelated traits. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate a suite of physiological, morphological, and movement behaviour traits associated with the dispersal syndrome using a model system: laboratory dispersal apparatuses and Tribolium castaneum (red flour beetle).The research presented in this thesis focused on the following traits: body size, locomotor apparatus size, metabolic rate, spontaneous activity, and movement behaviour in a maze (including speed, path length, displacement distance, and behavioural intermittence). The first specific aim was to determine how the onset of sexual maturity and age throughout early life affects dispersal-related traits (Chapter 2). I found that prior to sexual maturity, T. castaneum have low metabolic rate and moved significantly less than mature ones. The low energy expenditure was attributable to reduced energy demand and inactivity, which was hypothesised to be a protective mechanism while the cuticle is undergoing sclerotisation.The second specific aim was to determine the relationships among metabolic rate, body size, relative leg length and different movement behaviour traits (Chapter 3). A dominant axis of movement ability described variation in several movement traits and was positively related to relative leg length, but unrelated to body size or metabolic rate. A mechanistic relationship ii between stride length and movement ability is therefore likely. The data suggested that the dispersal syndrome may be more strongly tied to morphology rather than physiology.The third specific aim was to investigate the dispersal rate of T. castaneum through threepatch dispersal apparatuses to determine which design would be most effective for artificial selection on the basis of dispersal success (Chapter 4). The distance and slope of the tubing that connected between patches significantly affected dispersal rate, therefo...