Low propensity for aerial dispersal in specialist spiders from fragmented landscapes
Bonte, D.; Vandenbroecke, N.; Lens, L.; Maelfait, J.-P. (2004). Low propensity for aerial dispersal in specialist spiders from fragmented landscapes, in: Bonte, D. Verspreiding van spinnen in grijze kustduinen: ruimtelijke patronen en evolutionair-ecologisch belang van dispersie = Distribution of spiders in coastal grey dunes: spatial patterns and evolutionary-ecological importance of dispersal. pp. 96-108
In: Bonte, D. (2004). Verspreiding van spinnen in grijze kustduinen: ruimtelijke patronen en evolutionair-ecologisch belang van dispersie = Distribution of spiders in coastal grey dunes: spatial patterns and evolutionary-ecological importance of dispersal. PhD Thesis. Ghent University/Institute of Nature Conservation: Brussel. ISBN 90-403-0211-1. 260 pp., more
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Bonte, D.; Vandenbroecke, N.; Lens, L.; Maelfait, J.-P. (2003). Low propensity for aerial dispersal in specialist spiders from fragmented landscapes. Proc. - Royal Soc., Biol. Sci. 270(1524): 1601-1607. dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2432, more
Aerial dispersal by ballooning is a passive flight, by which wind drag generates an upward lift on a silk thread. It is likely to reflect an aerial lottery, in which the absence of flight direction control is a serious cost for long-distance dispersal in a fragmented landscape. For species occurring in one patchily distributed habitat type, dispersal should evolve in a different way from morphological traits, directly linked to active dispersal. Therefore, we expect that if the risk of landing in an unsuitable habitat is lower than the probability of reaching a suitable habitat, selection should benefit a well-developed ballooning behaviour. We investigated interspecific variation in the ballooning-initiating tiptoe behaviour as it is linked to spider dispersal performance. Our results indeed indicate that ballooning performance is negatively related to habitat specialization in spiders from patchy grey dunes, so habitat specialists are characterized by poorly developed dispersal behaviour. These findings are concordant with recent insights that dispersal is selected as risk spreading in generalists, while it is selected against in specialist species.
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