Seed Dispersal as A Search Strategy: Dynamic and Fragmented Landscapes Select for Multi-Scale Seed Dispersal
Background – Plant dispersal is a critical factor driving ecological responses to global changes. Knowledge on the mechanisms of dispersal is rapidly advancing, but selective pressures responsible for the evolution of dispersal strategies remain elusive. Recent advances in animal movement ecology id...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/227409 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/227409 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Short-distance dispersal Simulation models Lévy Flight Lévy walk Long-distance dispersal Multi-scale seed dispersal Plant movement strategies |
| Sumario: | Background – Plant dispersal is a critical factor driving ecological responses to global changes. Knowledge on the mechanisms of dispersal is rapidly advancing, but selective pressures responsible for the evolution of dispersal strategies remain elusive. Recent advances in animal movement ecology identied general strategies that may optimize eciency in animal searches for food or habitat. We here explore the potential for evolution of similar general movement strategies for plants. Methods – We propose that seed dispersal in plants can be viewed as a strategic search for suitable habitat, where the probability of nding such locations has been optimized through evolution of appropriate dispersal kernels. Using model simulations, we demonstrate how dispersal strategies can optimize key dispersal trade-offs between nding habitat, avoiding kin competition, and colonizing new patches. These trade-offs depend strongly on the landscape, resulting in a tight link between optimal dispersal strategy and spatiotemporal habitat distribution. Results – Our ndings reveal that multi-scale seed dispersal strategies that combine short-distance and long-distance dispersal, including Lévy-like dispersal, are optimal across a wide range of dynamic and patchy landscapes. Static patchy landscapes select for short-distance dominated dispersal strategies, while uniform and highly unpredictable landscapes both select for long-distance dominated dispersal strategies. Conclusions – By viewing plant seed dispersal as a strategic search for suitable habitat, we provide a reference framework for the analysis of plant dispersal data. This reference framework helps identify plant species’ dispersal strategies, the evolutionary forces determining these strategies and their ecological consequences, such as a potential mismatch between plant dispersal strategy and altered spatiotemporal habitat dynamics due to land use change. Our perspective opens up directions for future studies, including exploration of composite search behaviour and ‘informed searches’ in plant species with directed dispersal. |
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