Splitting the tail of the displacement kernel shows the unimportance of kurtosis

Ecology
Tom LindströmUno Wennergren

Abstract

Animals disperse in space through different movement behaviors, resulting in different displacement distances. This is often described with a displacement kernel where the long-distance dispersers are within the tail of the kernel. A displacement with a large proportion of long-distance dispersers may have impact on different aspects of spatial ecology such as invasion speed, population persistence, and distribution. It is, however, unclear whether the kurtosis of the kernel plays a major role since a fatter tail also influences the variance of the kernel. We modeled displacement in landscapes with different amounts and configurations of habitats and handled kurtosis and variance separately to study how these affected population distribution and transition time. We conclude that kurtosis is not important for any of these aspects of spatial ecology. The variance of the kernel, on the other hand, was of great importance to both population distribution and transition time. We argue that separating variance and kurtosis can cast new light on the way in which long-distance dispersers are important in ecological processes. Consequences for empirical studies are discussed.

References

May 25, 2002·Theoretical Population Biology·Dale R LockwoodLouis W Botsford
Apr 25, 2006·Molecular Ecology·T BroquetJ M Fryxell
Jul 19, 2006·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Richard J WaltersJean P Palutikof
Dec 23, 2006·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Matthew F Coombs, Marco A Rodríguez
Feb 1, 1983·Oecologia·P M Kareiva, N Shigesada

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Citations

Nov 25, 2011·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Tom LindströmUno Wennergren
Nov 5, 2010·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Tom LindströmUno Wennergren

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