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Dispersal in stable habitats

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Abstract

Simple mathematical models show that adaptations for achieving dispersal retain great importance even in uniform and predictable environments. A parent organism is expected to try to enter a high fraction of its propagules into competition for sites away from its own immediate locality even when mortality to such dispersing propagules is extremely high. The models incidentally provide a case where the evolutionarily stable dispersal strategy for individuals is suboptimal for the population as a whole.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imperial College Field Station, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, UK

    W. D. Hamilton

  2. Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540

    Robert M. May

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  1. W. D. Hamilton
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  2. Robert M. May
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Hamilton, W., May, R. Dispersal in stable habitats. Nature 269, 578–581 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269578a0

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