Journal
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY
Volume 95, Issue 5, Pages 981-991Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1644/14-MAMM-A-008
Keywords
brush mouse; dispersal; Peromyscus boylii; population density; sex-biased dispersal; spatial genetic structure
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [NSF-IOS 1149056, NSF-IOS 0407649]
- American Philosophical Society
- American Museum of Natural History
- University of California Davis Population Biology Graduate Group
- New Mexico State University
- American Society of Mammalogists
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1149056] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Natal dispersal, the process of moving between the natal site and the site of 1st reproduction, affects a variety of ecological and evolutionary processes. Multiple factors have been suggested to influence patterns of natal dispersal in vertebrates; sex and population density are 2 of the most frequently invoked. In mammals, males are typically expected to disperse farther or more frequently than females. In contrast, theoretical predictions about the effect of population density are less clear, and support exists for both positive and negative density-dependent dispersal. Here, I investigate the influences of sex and population density on dispersal distances and spatial genetic structure (SGS) in the brush mouse (Peromyscus boylii), using both intensive field surveys and spatial genetic autocorrelation methods. Neither density nor sex affected dispersal distances. I did detect increased genetic structure in females compared to males, a pattern consistent with male-biased dispersal. However, processes other than dispersal can generate SGS, and I suggest that in addition to sex-biased dispersal, these results also could reflect gene dispersal via mating excursions. No clear effect of population density on either dispersal distance or SGS emerged. These results highlight the importance of using multiple methodologies to investigate dispersal.
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