Animal Movement
Summer 2004
Animal movements can be viewed at multiple spatial
scales, ranging from short-distance movements of individuals within
a foraging area or home range to long-distance seasonal migration
between different environments. Research in this cluster focused
on the importance of animal dispersal and migration to understanding
the spatial structure and dynamics of populations as well as life
history strategies and evolutionary processes. Studies examined
how habitat heterogeneity, social interactions, and other factors
influence individual movements and spatial structure in populations
of insects, small-mammals and other organisms by considering the
advantages and disadvantages for dispersal or migration. Second,
given that individuals move in particular ways, what are the habitat,
social or ecological factors that influence the success of dispersal
and migration? Finally, research in the cluster considered the
consequences of movement and dispersal to genetic and ecological
characteristics of populations.
