کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
4502948 | 1624172 | 2009 | 12 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |

Ecological modelers have long puzzled over the spatial distribution of species. The random walk or diffusive approach to dispersal has yielded important results for biology and mathematics, yet it has been inadequate in explaining all phenomenological features. Ranges can terminate non-smoothly absent a complementary shift in the characteristics of the environment. Also unexplained is the absence of a species from nearby areas of adequate, or even abundant, resources. In this paper, I show how local searching behavior–keyed to a density-dependent fitness–can limit the speed and extent of a species’ spread. In contrast to standard diffusive processes, pseudo-rational movement facilitates the clustering of populations. It also can be used to estimate the speed of an expanding population range, explain expansion stall, and provides a mechanism by which a population can colonize seemingly removed regions — biogeographic islands in a continental framework. Finally, I discuss the effect of resource degradation and different resource impact/utilization curves on the model.
Journal: Theoretical Population Biology - Volume 75, Issues 2–3, March–May 2009, Pages 216–227