Dispersal, kin aggregation, and the fitness consequences of not spreading sibling larvae.

ABSTRACT: Dispersal has far-reaching implications for individuals, populations, and communities, especially in sessile organisms. Escaping competition with conspecifics and with kin are theorized to be key factors leading to dispersal as an adaptation. However, manipulative approaches in systems in which adults are sessile but offspring have behaviors is required for a more complete understanding of how competition affects dispersal. Here, we integrate a series of experiments to study how dispersal affects the density and relatedness of neighbors, and how the density and relatedness of neighbors in turn affects fitness. In a marine bryozoan, we empirically estimated dispersal kernels and found that most larvae settled within ~1 m of the maternal colony, although some could potentially travel at leas

SUBMITTER: Burgess SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078279 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature