Morales-González Ana, Fernández-Gil Alberto, Quevedo Mario, Revilla Eloy
Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avd. Americo Vespucio 26, Sevilla, 41092, Spain.
Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, and Research Institute of Biodiversity (IMIB, UO-CSIC-PA), Oviedo University, Oviedo, Spain.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2022 Apr;97(2):466-480. doi: 10.1111/brv.12807. Epub 2021 Oct 18.
Dispersal is a key demographic process involving three stages: emigration, transience and settlement; each of which is influenced by individual, social and environmental determinants. An integrated understanding of species dispersal is essential for demographic modelling and conservation planning. Here, we review the dispersal patterns and determinants documented in the scientific literature for the grey wolf (Canis lupus) across its distribution range. We showed a surprisingly high variability within and among study areas on all dispersal parameters - dispersal rate, direction, distance, duration and success. We found that such large variability is due to multiple individual, social and environmental determinants, but also due to previously overlooked methodological research issues. We revealed a potential non-linear relationship between dispersal rate and population density, with dispersal rate higher at both ends of the gradient of population density. We found that human-caused mortality reduces distance, duration and success of dispersal events. Furthermore, dispersers avoid interaction with humans, and highly exposed areas like agricultural lands hamper population connectivity in many cases. We identified numerous methodological research problems that make it difficult to obtain robust estimates of dispersal parameters and robust inferences on dispersal patterns and their determinants. In particular, analyses where confounding factors were not accounted for led to substantial knowledge gaps on all aspects of dispersal in an otherwise much-studied species. Our understanding of wolf biology and management would significantly benefit if wolf dispersal studies reported the results and possible factors affecting wolf dispersal more transparently.
扩散是一个关键的种群统计学过程，包括三个阶段：迁出、过渡和定居；每个阶段都受到个体、社会和环境因素的影响。对物种扩散的综合理解对于种群统计学建模和保护规划至关重要。在此，我们回顾了科学文献中记录的灰狼（Canis lupus）在其分布范围内的扩散模式和影响因素。我们发现，在所有扩散参数（扩散率、方向、距离、持续时间和成功率）方面，研究区域内和区域间都存在惊人的高变异性。我们发现，如此大的变异性不仅归因于多个个体、社会和环境因素，还归因于先前被忽视的方法学研究问题。我们揭示了扩散率与种群密度之间可能存在非线性关系，在种群密度梯度的两端，扩散率较高。我们发现，人为导致的死亡率会缩短扩散事件的距离、持续时间并降低成功率。此外，扩散个体避免与人类互动，在许多情况下，像农田这样高度暴露的区域会阻碍种群的连通性。我们识别出许多方法学研究问题，这些问题使得难以获得对扩散参数的可靠估计，以及对扩散模式及其影响因素的可靠推断。特别是，在未考虑混杂因素的分析中，导致了在一个原本已被大量研究的物种的扩散各个方面存在重大知识空白。如果灰狼扩散研究能更透明地报告影响灰狼扩散的结果和可能因素，我们对狼生物学和管理的理解将受益匪浅。
