Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Dec 27;365(1560):4065-76. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0176.
Dispersal is one of the most fundamental components of ecology, and affects processes as diverse as population growth, metapopulation dynamics, gene flow and adaptation. Although the act of moving from one habitat to another entails major costs to the disperser, empirical and theoretical studies suggest that these costs can be reduced by having morphological, physiological or behavioural specializations for dispersal. A few recent studies on different systems showed that individuals exhibit personality-dependent dispersal, meaning that dispersal tendency is associated with boldness, sociability or aggressiveness. Indeed, in several species, dispersers not only develop behavioural differences at the onset of dispersal, but display these behavioural characteristics through their life cycle. While personality-dependent dispersal has been demonstrated in only a few species, we believe that it is a widespread phenomenon with important ecological consequences. Here, we review the evidence for behavioural differences between dispersers and residents, to what extent they constitute personalities. We also examine how a link between personality traits and dispersal behaviours can be produced and how personality-dependent dispersal affects the dynamics of metapopulations and biological invasions. Finally, we suggest future research directions for population biologists, behavioural ecologists and conservation biologists such as how the direction and the strength of the relationship between personality traits and dispersal vary with ecological contexts.
扩散是生态学中最基本的组成部分之一，它影响着种群增长、复合种群动态、基因流动和适应等多种过程。尽管从一个栖息地迁移到另一个栖息地对扩散者来说代价高昂，但实证和理论研究表明，通过扩散的形态、生理或行为特化可以降低这些成本。最近对不同系统的一些研究表明，个体表现出与个性相关的扩散，这意味着扩散倾向与大胆、社交或攻击性有关。事实上，在一些物种中，扩散者不仅在开始扩散时表现出行为差异，而且在整个生命周期中都表现出这些行为特征。虽然个性相关的扩散仅在少数物种中得到证实，但我们相信它是一种广泛存在的现象，具有重要的生态后果。在这里，我们回顾了扩散者和定居者之间行为差异的证据，以及它们在多大程度上构成了个性。我们还研究了个性特征和扩散行为之间的联系是如何产生的，以及个性相关的扩散如何影响复合种群和生物入侵的动态。最后，我们为种群生物学家、行为生态学家和保护生物学家提出了未来的研究方向，例如个性特征与扩散之间的关系的方向和强度如何随生态环境而变化。
