Looking beyond the mountain: dispersal barriers in a changing world

Paul Caplat (1) , Pim Edelaar (2) , Rachael Y. Dudaniec (3) , Andy J. Green (4) , Beth Okamura (5) , Julien Cote (6, 7) , Johan Ekroos (1) , Per R. Jonsson (8) , Jakob Löndahl (9) , Sylvie V.M. Tesson (10) , Eric Petit (11)

1 CEC - Centre for Environmental and Climate Research [Lund]
2 Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering
3 Department of Biological Sciences
4 Department of Wetland Ecology
5 Life Sciences Department
6 EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique
7 UT - Université de Toulouse
8 Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences [Gothenburg]
9 Department of Design Sciences
10 Department of Marine Sciences
11 ESE - Écologie et santé des écosystèmes

Dispersal barriers have demographic, evolutionary, and ecosystem-wide consequences. With ongoing changes in the environment, some dispersal barriers will likely disappear while new ones will appear, and it is crucial to understand these dynamics to forecast species’ distributions and adaptive potential. Here we review recent literature on the ecological and evolutionary aspects of dispersal to highlight key dynamics of dispersal barriers in the face of global change. After defining dispersal barriers, we explain that a better understanding of their dynamics requires identifying the barrier types that are most susceptible to change and predicting species’ responses. This knowledge is a prerequisite for designing management strategies to increase or reduce connectivity, and maintain adaptive potential. Our intent is to motivate researchers to explicitly consider dispersal barriers in order to better forecast the dynamics of species and ecosystems subject to global change.

Mots clés: dissemination; geographical distribution; ecosystem; environment

Mots clés: écologie des populations; dispersion; distribution géographique; capacité d'adaptation; adaptation; changement global; environnement; écosystème; espèce animale; genetique des populations; stratégie de gestion

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Ecologie, Environnement; Evolution [q-bio.PE]

Paul Caplat, Pim Edelaar, Rachael Y. Dudaniec, Andy J. Green, Beth Okamura, et al.. Looking beyond the mountain: dispersal barriers in a changing world. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2016, 14 (5), pp.261-268. ⟨10.1002/fee.1280⟩. ⟨hal-01594478⟩