Search results for "Biological dispersal"
showing 10 items of 326 documents
Possible amphi-Atlantic dispersal of Scyllarus lobsters (Crustacea: Scyllaridae): molecular and larval evidence
2017
14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table
New insight into the colonization processes of common voles: inferences from molecular and fossil evidence.
2008
Biologie et Gestion des Populations, Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier/Lez, FranceElucidating the colonization processes associated with Quaternary climatic cycles is important in order to understand the distribution of biodiversity and the evolutionary potential of temperate plant and animal species. In Europe, general evolutionary scenarios have been defined from genetic evidence. Recently, these scenarios have been challenged with genetic as well as fossil data. The origins of the modern distributions of most temperate plant and animal species could predate the Last Glacial Maximum. The glacial survival of such populations may have occurred in either southern (Mediterranea…
Linking present environment and the segregation of reproductive modes (geographical parthenogenesis) in Eucypris virens (Crustacea: Ostracoda)
2013
Aim Geographical parthenogenesis – in which parthenogenetic populations are more widely distributed than sexually reproducing populations – is observed in many plant and animal species. Many hypotheses have been proposed to account for this biogeographical pattern, and these often invoke historical processes such as the influence of glaciation. However, there are relatively few empirical studies of the contemporary factors associated with geographical parthenogenesis. The aim of this study was to understand its causes by linking contemporary environmental gradients with reproductive modes in the freshwater ostracod Eucypris virens. Location Europe and North Africa. Methods We sampled popula…
Comparative host–parasite population structures: disentangling prospecting and dispersal in the black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
2005
Although much insight is to be gained through the comparison of the population genetic structures of parasites and hosts, there are, at present, few studies that take advantage of the information on vertebrate life histories available through the consideration of their parasites. Here, we examined the genetic structure of a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla ) using seven polymorphic microsatellite markers to make inferences about population functioning and intercolony dispersal. We sampled kittiwakes from 22 colonies across the species’ range and, at the same time, collected individuals of one of its common ectoparasites, the tick Ixodes uriae . Parasites were …
Individual dispersal status influences space use of conspecific residents in the common lizard, Lacerta vivipara
2006
The effects of immigration on the behaviour of residents may have important implications for the local population characteristics. A manipulative laboratory experiment with yearlings of the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) was performed to test whether the introduction of dispersing or philopatric individuals influences the short-term spacing behaviour of resident individuals. Staged encounters were carried out to induce interactions within dyads. The home cage of each responding individual was connected by a corridor to an unfamiliar “arrival cage” to measure the latency to leave their own home cage after each encounter. Our results showed that the time that pairs spent in close proximity …
Assessing the capacity of different urban forms to preserve the connectivity of ecological habitats
2011
International audience; This paper addresses the relationship between anthropogenic forest habitat fragmentation and the form of urban patterns. Using a two-step methodology we first generate 40 theoretical residential development scenarios following a repeatable procedure; the simulated urban forms are either moderately compact or fractal. Then, we compare the scenarios according to the functional connectivity of the remaining forest habitat using a graph-based approach. The methodology is applied to the urban region of Besançon (France), where forest surfaces are considered as a generic habitat for several animal species. Results obtained show that fractal scenarios of residential develop…
The killer shrimp, Dikerogammarus villosus, invading European Alpine lakes: a single main source but independent founder events with an overall loss …
2017
16 pages; International audience; 1. The effects of biological invasions are generally more detrimental in isolated ecosystems than in the interconnected ones and freshwater lakes appear to be particularly fragile. The Ponto-Caspian freshwater amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus (Pontogammaridae), also known as the killer shrimp, is a highly invasive species that can have significant ecological impacts on receiving ecosystems. It has colonised most of the European main inland waterbodies, including at least 12 lakes in the Alps – an area of high conservational priority and, at the same time, heavily affected by anthropogenic changes. Particularly, overland translocations of boats among tourist…
Punishment of polygyny
1999
We investigated the evolution of monogamy (one male, one female) and polygyny (one male, more than one female). In particular, we studied whether it is possible for a mutant polygynous mating strategy to invade a resident population of monogamous breeders and, alternatively, whether a mutant monogamy can invade resident polygyny. Our population obeys discrete-time Ricker dynamics. The role of males and females in the breeding system is incorporated via the harmonic birth function. The results of the invasability analysis are straightforward. Polygyny is an evolutionarily stable strategy mating system; this holds throughout the examined range of numbers of offspring produced per female. So t…
Individual level consistency and correlations of fish spatial behaviour assessed from aquatic animal telemetry
2017
The potential for populations to undergo adaptive evolution depends on individual variation in traits under selection and how multiple traits are correlated. While fitness relates to the performance of animals in the wild, most of the research on evolutionary potential of behavioural traits has used captive or mesocosm settings, especially with aquatic organisms. We investigated the individual level consistency (personalities) and correlations (behavioural syndromes) of fitness-related behavioural traits displayed by a harvested marine fish in the natural environment, and the potential of such individual level behaviour to constrain adaptive evolution. For this, we acoustically tracked 303 …
Social flexibility and social evolution in mammals: a case study of the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio)
2011
Environmental change poses challenges to many organisms. The resilience of a species to such change depends on its ability to respond adaptively. Social flexibility is such an adaptive response, whereby individuals of both sexes change their reproductive tactics facultatively in response to fluctuating environmental conditions, leading to changes in the social system. Social flexibility focuses on individual flexibility, and provides a unique opportunity to study both the ultimate and proximate causes of sociality by comparing between solitary and group-living individuals of the same population: why do animals form groups and how is group-living regulated by the environment and the neuro-en…