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Density-dependence across dispersal stages in a hermaphrodite land snail: insights from discrete choice models

  • Behavioral ecology–original research
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Abstract

Dispersal movements, i.e. movements leading to gene flow, are key behaviours with important, but only partially understood, consequences for the dynamics and evolution of populations. In particular, density-dependent dispersal has been widely described, yet how it is determined by the interaction with individual traits, and whether density effects differ between the three steps of dispersal (departure, transience, and settlement), remains largely unknown. Using a semi-natural landscape, we studied dispersal choices of Cornu aspersum land snails, a species in which negative effects of crowding are well documented, and analysed them using dispersal discrete choice models, a new method allowing the analysis of dispersal decisions by explicitly considering the characteristics of all available alternatives and their interaction with individual traits. Subadults were more dispersive than adults, confirming existing results. In addition, departure and settlement were both density dependent: snails avoided crowded patches at both ends of the dispersal process, and subadults were more reluctant to settle into crowded patches than adults. Moreover, we found support for carry-over effects of release density on subsequent settlement decisions: snails from crowded contexts were more sensitive to density in their subsequent immigration choices. The fact that settlement decisions were informed indicates that costs of prospecting are not as important as previously thought in snails, and/or that snails use alternative ways to collect information, such as indirect social information (e.g. trail following). The observed density-dependent dispersal dynamics may play an important role in the ability of C. aspersum to successfully colonise frequently human-disturbed habitats around the world.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Youn Henry and Alexandre Mounier, who participated in fieldwork. The experimental protocol was greatly improved by comments from Thomas Broquet, Marie-Agnès Coutellec, Blandine Doligez, Annie Guiller, Laurence Henry and Eric Petit. We are grateful to the University of Rennes 1 for allowing us to use part of the Evenière park, and to Thierry Fontaine and Fouad Nassur for their help in preparing and maintaining the experimental meadow. We thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped correct and clarify several aspects of the manuscript.

Author contribution statement

M. D., A. A. and L. M. conceived and designed the experiments. M. D. performed the experiments. M. D. and M. V. analysed the data. M. D. wrote the manuscript, and all other authors provided editorial advice

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  1. CNRS/University of Rennes 1, UMR 6553 Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Evolution (ECOBIO), Rennes, France

    Maxime Dahirel, Armelle Ansart & Luc Madec

  2. Terrestrial Ecology Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Maxime Dahirel

  3. Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Michalis Vardakis

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  1. Maxime Dahirel
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Correspondence to Maxime Dahirel.

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M. D. was supported by a doctoral grant from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. M. V. was supported by a TOP-BOF grant of the University of Antwerp coordinated by Erik Matthysen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Wolf M. Mooij.

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Dahirel, M., Vardakis, M., Ansart, A. et al. Density-dependence across dispersal stages in a hermaphrodite land snail: insights from discrete choice models. Oecologia 181, 1117–1128 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3636-z

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