Dispersal evolution and resource matching in a spatially and temporally variable environment

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Population Dynamics

Background:

• Metapopulations comprise patches of varying quality, susceptible to external disturbances that alter patch quality.
• Species persistence in such metapopulations is critically dependent on their dispersal strategies.
• In stable environments, dispersal evolution follows the resource matching rule, balancing competitors with resource availability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how dispersal strategies achieve resource matching in temporally variable metapopulations.
• To analyze the distribution of individuals relative to resources under environmental disturbance.
• To extend findings to sexual reproduction and more complex metapopulation structures.

Main Methods:

• Development of an analytically tractable asexual model with two patch qualities.
• Analysis of convergence stable dispersal strategies under temporal environmental variation.
• Generalization of findings to sexual reproduction and metapopulations with three patch qualities.

Main Results:

• Convergence stable dispersal predicts resource matching in expectation prior to habitat variation.
• Individual distribution under temporal variation results in under-matching of resources.
• Overall individual flow between patches equilibrates with the resource flow influenced by environmental changes.

Conclusions:

• Dispersal strategies in variable environments lead to a dynamic resource-matching equilibrium.
• Under-matching of resources by individuals is a consequence of temporal habitat variation.
• The study provides insights into metapopulation persistence and evolutionary strategies in fluctuating environments.