Version 1
: Received: 4 January 2024 / Approved: 4 January 2024 / Online: 4 January 2024 (17:14:59 CET)
How to cite:
Ponchon, A. Prospecting for informed dispersal: reappraisal of a widespread but overlooked ecological process. Preprints2024, 2024010428. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.0428.v1
Ponchon, A. Prospecting for informed dispersal: reappraisal of a widespread but overlooked ecological process. Preprints 2024, 2024010428. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.0428.v1
Ponchon, A. Prospecting for informed dispersal: reappraisal of a widespread but overlooked ecological process. Preprints2024, 2024010428. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.0428.v1
APA Style
Ponchon, A. (2024). Prospecting for informed dispersal: reappraisal of a widespread but overlooked ecological process. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.0428.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Ponchon, A. 2024 "Prospecting for informed dispersal: reappraisal of a widespread but overlooked ecological process" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.0428.v1
Abstract
Prospecting for a future breeding site is an essential component of informed dispersal. It allows individuals to reduce the uncertainty of their environment by gathering personal and social information about the local quality of alternative breeding areas, and to make informed emigration and settlement decisions. Although this process has been studied in territorial and social animal species for decades, it is still not well-understood and spatial patterns of prospecting movements are hard to generalize over taxa or even species due to substantial intra and inter-specific variability. Using 124 empirical studies which have explicitly described prospecting in a context of breeding habitat selection in birds, mammals, fish and invertebrates, I review why, how, when and which individuals prospect depending on their life history traits and sociality. From this synthesis, I identify persisting knowledge gaps which explain why prospecting is still understudied and sometimes overlooked. I finally propose key objectives and research directions, to shed light on prospecting movements and their consequences on informed dispersal strategies, individual fitness and population dynamics, both empirically and theoretically. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying prospecting, their causes and their consequences will fully reveal how prospecting could constitute a powerful adaptive response to environmental changes for many social and territorial species which will help them persist on the long-term. It will also significantly enhance our ability to predict species responses to environmental changes and thus, inform more effective management plans for threatened species
Keywords
behavioural decisions, breeding habitat selection, environmental change, exploratory movements, extra-territorial forays, incursions, information use
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
