Physiology can predict animal activity, exploration, and dispersal

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Physiology
• Zoology

Background:

• Physiological traits influence individual movement, affecting species distributions.
• Understanding these links is crucial for predicting ecological responses to environmental change.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if physiological traits underpin individual movement (activity, exploration, dispersal).
• To investigate if physiological characteristics differ between species' range cores and edges.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two meta-analyses of existing literature.
• Analyzed 88 studies for physiological traits influencing movement.
• Analyzed 43 studies for physiological differences between range core and edge populations.

Main Results:

• Locomotor performance and metabolism were linked to individual movement.
• Range edges showed distinct physiological traits (metabolism, locomotor performance, corticosterone, immunity) compared to cores.
• These differences intensified with longer time since range separation.
• Effects were prominent in birds and amphibians, but sampling bias is noted.

Conclusions:

• Physiology plays a role in animal movement and influences species distributions.
• Further research is needed to overcome sampling biases and generalize findings across taxa and regions.