Habitat preference may promote adaptive divergence and speciation, yet the conditions under which this is likely are insufficiently explored. We use individual-based simulations to study the evolution and consequence of habitat preference during divergence with gene flow, considering four different underlying genetically based behavioural mechanisms: natal habitat imprinting, phenotype-dependen...

Synopsis In 1967 Daniel Janzen published an influential paper titled "Why Mountain Passes Are Higher in the Tropics." Janzen derived a simple climatic-physiological model predicting that tropical mountain passes would be more effective barriers to organismal dispersal than would temperate-zone passes of equivalent altitude. This prediction derived from a recognition that the annual variation in...

Understanding the impact of natural and anthropogenic landscape features on population connectivity is a major goal in evolutionary ecology and conservation. Discovery of dispersal barriers is important for predicting population responses to landscape and environmental changes, particularly for populations at geographic range margins. We used a landscape genetics approach to quantify the effect...

Information on connectivity is becoming increasingly in demand as marine protected areas are being designed as an integral part of a network to protect marine resources at the ecosystem level. Larval dispersal and population structure, however, remain very difficult to assess. Here, we tested the predictions of a detailed oceanographic connectivity model of larval dispersal and coral recruitmen...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Pollen and seed dispersal in herbaceous insect-pollinated plants are often restricted, inducing strong population structure. To what extent this influences mating within and among patches is poorly understood. This study investigates the influence of population structure on pollen performance using controlled pollinations and genetic markers. METHODS Population structure w...

In this contribution, we determine the genetic population structure in the Skunk Clownfish (Amphiprion akallopsisos) across the Indian Ocean, and on a smaller geographic scale in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). Highly restricted gene flow was discovered between populations on either side of the Indian Ocean using the control region as a mitochondrial marker (mtDNA). We verify this conclusion us...

BACKGROUND Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays a major role in speciation and evolution of bacteria and archaea by controlling gene distribution within an environment. However, information that links HGT to a natural community using relevant population-genetics parameters and spatial considerations is scarce. The Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) provides an excellent model for studying HGT in the c...

Scatter-hoarding rodents are effective dispersal agents for many plant species. Several studies have shown that rodents repeatedly re-cache seeds. The re-caching process often has a significant impact on final seedling establishment, but the factors determining its occurrence are poorly understood. In this study, we followed the fate of 3564 artificial seeds that varied in size, nutrient conten...

Exotic plant invasions have triggered environmental and economic problems throughout the world. Our ability to manage these invasions is hindered by the difficulty of predicting spread in fragmented landscapes. Because the spatial pattern of invasions depends on the dispersal characteristics of the invasive species and the configuration of suitable habitat within the landscape, a universal mana...

Myrmecochory is the process of seed dispersal by ants; however, it is highly challenging to study, mainly because of the small size of both partners and the comparatively large range of dispersal. The mutualistic interaction between ants and seeds involves the former retrieving diaspores, consuming their elaiosome (a nutrient-rich appendage), and the rejection of seeds from the nest. Here, we i...