Summary
Contrary to Kuno's (1981) contention, dispersing does not help and individual to get a larger average progeny in an unpredictable and heterogeneous but nonlimiting environment: average progeny is exactly equal for (partially) dispersing and nondispersing populations. However, the geometric time averages of pro-capita reproduction as well as geometric averages over replicates of final progeny size after a fixed number of years differ, just as Kuno asserts. Moreover, if populations of the two types are grown in mixed culture it is the disperser who will win in the long run. This even applies if dispersal means the incurring of some additional mortality. Models with partial dispersal are much more complicated to deal with than models with either a complete redistribution each generation or no dispersal at all, contrary to the assertion of e.g. Venable and Lawlor (1980). Partial dispersers will win from nondispersers, but the optimal amount of dispersal unfortunately seems to depend sensitively on the details of the model specification, except that it has to be small if the number of independent patches is large.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Cohen D (1966) Optimizing reproduction in a randomly varying environment. J Theor Biol 12:119–129
Feller W (1971) An introduction to probability theory and its applications Vol II (2nd edition). Wiley New York
Kuno E (1981) Dispersal and persistence of populations in unstable habitats: a theoretical note. Oecologia (Berlin) 49:123–126
Lewontin RC, Cohen D (1969) On population growth in a randomly varying environment. Proc Nat Acad Sci 62:1056–1060
MacArthur RH (1972) Geographical ecology; patterns in the distribution of species. Harper & Row, New York
Venable DL, Lawlor L (1980) Delayed germination and dispersal in desert annuals: escape in space and time. Oecologia (Berlin) 46:272–282
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Metz, J.A.J., de Jong, T.J. & Klinkhamer, P.G.L. What are the advantages of dispersing; a paper by Kuno explained and extended. Oecologia 57, 166–169 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379576
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379576