ECOLOGY

INTRACTION THAT DETERMINE

ANIMAL DISTRIBUTION AND
ABUNDANCE
 Why are organisms of a particular species present in
some places and absent from others ?

Area inaccessible or Y
DISPERSAL N
insufficient time

Y BEHAVIOR N
Habitat Selection

Y
Species interaction OTHER SPECIES N

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL FACTOR

Temperature, Light, moisture, Water, Oxygen, Salinity,

etc pH, etc
 • The transport of organism from its origin
• Dispersal is a simultaneously ecological
process affecting distribution

Two basic types of dispersal based on the power to disperse:

Density-independent dispersal (passive) Density-dependent dispersal (active)

Organisms have evolved adaptations for
dispersal that take advantage of various forms
of kinetic energy occurring naturally in the
environment. This is referred to as density
independent or passive dispersal and operates
on many groups of organisms e.g invertebrate,
fishes and insect and sessile organisms such as
coral that depend on vector for example wind,
gravity or current for dispersal
Density dependent or active dispersal for many
animals largely depends on factors such as local
population size, resource competition, habitat
quality, and habitat size
Dispersal of organisms is a critical process for
understanding both geographic isolation in evolution
through gene flow and the broad patterns of current
geographic distributions
There are two ddd, natal dispersal where an
individual (often a juvenile) moves away from the
place it was born, and breeding dispersal where an
individual moves away from one breeding location to
breed elsewhere
 WHY DISPERSE ?
Dispersal must considers the benefits of
moving outweigh the costs.
There are a number of benefits to disperse
such as locating new resources, escaping
unfavorable conditions, avoiding competing
with sibling, avoiding breeding with closely
related individuals.
There’s always a trade-off.
Dispersing individuals probably face
reduced interspecific competition,
but there’s always the chance of
finding a less suitable environment.
To select the fittest
Dispersal is an ecological
process that plays an adaptive
role in the life history of the
organism involved.
In other words, the fitness of
the organism is increased in
some way through the process
of dispersal.
 Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean, is home to an
WHY DISPERSE ? endemic species of land-dwelling crabs. For most of the
year, the crabs live a solitary life inland, eating leaves and
Related to Genetic and behavior flowers, but every year between October and January, the
crabs migration en mass to the coast to mate and spawn.
With a population of over 40 million crabs all moving at
once, this migration is awe-inspiring. The start of the
migration coincides with the wet season on the Island.
Generally, the crabs have to be very conservative with their
movements in order to conserve body moisture, but with
the rains, they are able to move more freely and make the
migration to the coast.

Once at the beach, the male crabs will create a burrow

where they will mate with the female crabs. After mating,
the males will return to the forest while the females will
stay in the burrows for up to two weeks as the eggs
develop. The females will then deposit their eggs in the
ocean where the larva will hatch and spend 3-4 weeks
before returning to land as young crabs. What’s really
interesting about the whole event is that the female crabs
deposit their eggs in the ocean precisely at the turn of high
tide during the last quarter of the moon!
 WHY DISPERSE ?

Related to Genetic and behavior

Salmon, the keystone species. Salmon migrates

from the ocean, swim to the upper reaches of rivers
where they spawn on gravel beds. After spawning,
all or most die, and the salmon life cycle starts over
again. The annual run can be a major event for bear,
eagles and fishermen.
Salmon spend their early life in rivers, and then
swim out to sea where they live their adult lives and
gain most of their body mass. When they have
matured, they return to the rivers to spawn. Usually
they return with uncanny precision to the natal river
where they were born, and even to the very
spawning ground of their birth. It is thought that,
when they are in the ocean, they use magneto-
ception to locate the general position of their natal
river, and once close to the river, that they use their
sense of smell to home in on the river entrance and
even their natal spawning ground.
DISPERSAL IN GEOGRAPHIC SCALE

Is more likely aimed

to colonize the new
area (invasion)
 Charles Lyell

How does dispersal occur

The dispersalists said that Joseph Hooker
disjunctions had resulted
from movement along
ancient corridors that had
disappeared.
Evidence surfaced in the 20th
Century for a new, powerful
means of dispersal: continental
drift. The movement of
continents could raft
populations away from each
other and separate them in
vicariant events (tectonic,
climatic, or oceanographic
occurrences that isolate
previously connected
populations).
Secular migration occurs much An example can be seen in the
more slowly. So slowly, in fact, evolutionary divergence of the camel
that organisms can evolve during family during its spread across the
the process. world following its origins in North
America.
 Three Modes of Dispersal:
• Diffusion – Gradual movement of a population
across a hospitable terrain for a period of several
generations.

• Jump Dispersal – Movement of individual

organisms across large distances of inhospitable
habitat followed by the successful establishment
of a population in the new area.

• Secular Dispersal – Diffusion occurring in

evolutionary time.
 Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha)

Zebra mussels were first detected in 1988 in Lake St. Clair. Within just a few years, they spread into all five
of the Great Lakes. Since then, zebra mussels have spread into many lakes within the states surrounding
the Great Lakes. Because of their ability to adhere to objects, adult zebra mussels can easily be
transported on the hull of a boat. It is generally assumed that recreational activities such as boating and
fishing may be unknowingly responsible for the transport of zebra mussels from lake to lake. Transporting
young zebra mussels in small amounts of water is very easy and can go undetectable. Young zebra mussels
in their larval form are called 'veligers' and are microscopic in size. Live wells on boats and bait buckets are
two good examples of where veligers can "hide" so to speak. All these lakes have at one time had zebra
mussels in either adult or veliger form. This information represents a distribution of observations and
collections and does not necessarily represent the true distribution of reproducing populations. More
scientific sampling would be required to make that determination.
Term in Dispersal
Routes

Bio-geographers often distinguish

three kinds of dispersal routes
based on how they effect biotic
interchange. They are:
1. Corridors.
2. Filters.
3. Sweepstakes routes.
Corridors are dispersal routes
that allow movement of most taxa from
one region to another. They do not
selectively discriminate against one
form, but rather allow a balanced
assemblage of plants and animals to
cross them.
The areas at the two ends of a corridor
should contain a fairly similar
assemblage of organisms.

The Bering Land Bridge which existed some 20,000 years ago likely functioned as a
corridor which allowed organisms to pass from northern Eurasia to North America with
very little selection of the types that could pass. Conditions along the corridor would have
differed little from those on either end.
A filter is a dispersal route that
exercises some selection over the types
of organisms that can pass through it.
As a result, the colonists are a somewhat
biased subsets of those that could
potentially pass.
The Arabian subcontinent acts as a filter
in that only certain mammals, reptiles
and ground birds can disperse between
northern Africa and central Asia.

The Lesser Sunda Islands form a two-way

filter for the reptilian fauna of
southeastern Asia and Australia. This
region is sometimes known as
“Wallacea”, and is bisected by Wallace’s
Line.
 BARRIER OF DISPERSAL
Barriers
The nature of long-distance
Plain 2
dispersal means that Plain 1
organisms often have to
survive for periods of time in
environments that are hostile
to them.
These environments
constitute physical and
biological barriers to dispersal.
The effectiveness of such
Trench
barriers in preventing
dispersal depends not only on
the nature of the barrier, but
also on the organism
dispersing.
Physiological barriers are created by environmental conditions which
organisms (or their propagules) are unable to survive long enough for
dispersal.
Such barriers can be presented by salt (or fresh) water or unfavorable
temperatures,

The bird family Alcidae (auks,

puffins, and murres) is restricted
to cool areas of the Northern
Hemisphere even though they are
strong flyers. The tropics
apparently represent a strong
physiological barrier.
 Is Dispersal The Only Limit To Distribution?

• Humans have moved many species around the

globe – often with disastrous consequences
(think locally: nutria, hydrilla and water
hyacinth).
– Humans have allowed several species to bypass
traditional geographic barriers

• However, many times it is not just

inaccessibility that determines whether or not
a species is found in a particular habitat.
The deserts of the American southwest may act as a two-way filter between the Rocky
Mountains and the Sierra Madre to the south.
The desert separating the two mountain ranges have allowed limited mixing of the two
biotas.
This mixing was greatest during the glacial maximum, when the forest regions were most
greatly expanded and desert climates reduced.
The nature of barriers may
change with the season. In
temperate regions of North
America, large bodies of water
serve as barriers to the
movement of many terrestrial
species. However, during
winter these waters may freeze
and allow movement across
them.
Many species of terrestrial
mammals move across the ice
of the St. Lawrence River in
New York state.
Sweepstakes
Routes
Sweepstakes dispersal refers to the
crossing of barriers by rare, chance
events.
Such events, while highly unlikely in
the short term, are likely, even
probable, over the long term.
Your text tells of 15 green iguanas
that were rafted 200 miles across the
Caribbean as the result of Hurricanes
Luis and Marilyn in 1995.
In essence, they got lucky. They won
the “sweepstakes”.
 Key Concepts of Dispersal
In order to expand its range
through dispersal, an organism
must be able to:
1. Reach a new area.
2. Survive the potentially harsh
conditions occurring during
the passage.
3. Survive and reproduce in the
new area to the extent that
a new population is
established.
 What is a native species?
Native species are those that normally live and thrive in a
particular community. They occupy specific habitats and have
specific niches in their native environment. They have natural
predators that help to keep their populations in check.

Pink lady's slipper, Cypripedium acaule Red fox, Vulpes vulpes

 What is a non-native species?
• A species living outside its native distributional range, which
has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or
accidental. Non-native species are not necessarily invasive.

Multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora, was introduced Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), were
for use as an ornamental plant, to control accidentally introduced to North America, and
erosion, and to use as “living” fences for are now found in some Pennsylvanian
livestock. waterways
 What is a non-native invasive species?
• A non-native species that adversely affects
habitats and biodiversity.

Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis , has Japanese stilt grass, Microstegium vimineum,
killed millions of ash trees in the mid-west and becomes established on recently disturbed
has recently been found in Pennsylvania areas and outcompetes native plants, reducing
biodiversity.
 Common characteristics of invasive
species
Invasive species in general:
• Have few natural
predators, competitors,
parasites or diseases
• Have high reproductive
rates
Characteristics that make Zebra mussels a good
• Are long-lived invader include its ability to tolerate a wide-
range of environments, and high reproduction
• Are generalists rate; female mussels release up to 100,000 eggs
ability to tolerate a wide-range of environments
• Are pioneer species year.
 Statistical Generalizations: Tens Rule
• Williams and Fitter (1996) predicted that
– 1 species in 10 imported to a country becomes
introduced
– 1 in 10 of introduced species becomes
established
– 1 in 10 of the established species becomes a
pest
• Of course exceptions occur
– Much of Hawaii has been cleared, so habitats
have become unsuitable to native birds but not
introduced ones
 Terms for Introduced Nonnative Species

States Transition Definition

Imported Brought into the Country
Escaping Transition from imported to
introduced
Introduced Found in the wild; feral
Establishing Transition from introduced to
established
Established Has a self-sustaining population
Becoming a Transition from established to
Pest pest
Pest Has a negative economic
(ecological?) impact
INVASIVE SPECIES