The limitation of species range: A consequence of searching along resource gradients
Ecological modelers have long puzzled over the spatial distribution of species. The random walk or diffusive approach to dispersal has yielded important results for biology and mathematics, yet it has been inadequate in explaining all phenomenological features. Ranges can terminate non-smoothly abse...
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Published in | Theoretical population biology Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 216 - 227 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Elsevier Inc
01.03.2009
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Ecological modelers have long puzzled over the spatial distribution of species. The random walk or diffusive approach to dispersal has yielded important results for biology and mathematics, yet it has been inadequate in explaining all phenomenological features. Ranges can terminate non-smoothly absent a complementary shift in the characteristics of the environment. Also unexplained is the absence of a species from nearby areas of adequate, or even abundant, resources. In this paper, I show how local searching behavior–keyed to a density-dependent fitness–can limit the speed and extent of a species’ spread. In contrast to standard diffusive processes, pseudo-rational movement facilitates the clustering of populations. It also can be used to estimate the speed of an expanding population range, explain expansion stall, and provides a mechanism by which a population can colonize seemingly removed regions — biogeographic islands in a continental framework. Finally, I discuss the effect of resource degradation and different resource impact/utilization curves on the model. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Current Address: Department of Biology, Campus Box 3280, Coker Hall, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280 This research was partially supported by NIH grant GM-56693. |
ISSN: | 0040-5809 1096-0325 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.tpb.2009.03.001 |