Based on a marginal value approach, we derive a nonlinear expression for evolutionarily stable (ES) dispersal rates in a metapopulation with global dispersal. For the general case of density-dependent population growth, our analysis shows that individual dispersal rates should decrease with patch capacity and-beyond a certain threshold-increase with population density. We performed a number of spatially explicit, individual-based simulation experiments to test these predictions and to explore further the relevance of variation in the rate of population increase, density dependence, environmental fluctuations and dispersal mortality on the evolution of dispersal rates. They confirm the predictions of our analytical approach. In addition, they show that dispersal rates in metapopulations mostly depend on dispersal mortality and inter-patch variation in population density. The latter is dominantly driven by environmental fluctuations and the rate of population increase. These conclusions are not altered by the introduction of neighbourhood dispersal. With patch capacities in the order of 100 individuals, kin competition seems to be of negligible importance for ES dispersal rates except when overall dispersal rates are low.

Although generations of researchers have studied the factors that limit the distributions of species, we still do not seem to understand this phenomenon comprehensively. Traditionally, species’ ranges have been seen as the consequence of abiotic conditions and local adaptation to the environment. However, during the last years it has become more and more evident that biotic factors – such as intra‐ and interspecific interactions or the dispersal capacity of species – and even rapidly occurring evolutionary processes can strongly influence the range of a species and its potential to spread to new habitats. Relevant eco‐evolutionary forces can be found at all hierarchical levels: from landscapes to communities via populations, individuals and genes. We here use the metapopulation concept to develop a framework that allows us to synthesize this broad spectrum of different factors. Since species’ ranges are the result of a dynamic equilibrium of colonization and local extinction events, the importance of dispersal is immediately clear. We highlight the complex interrelations and feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary forces that shape dispersal and result in non‐trivial and partially counter‐intuitive range dynamics. Our concept synthesizes current knowledge on range biology and the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of dispersal. Synthesis What factors are responsible for the dynamics of species' ranges? Answering this question has never been more important than today, in the light of rapid environmental changes. Surprisingly, the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of dispersal – which represent the driving forces behind range formation – have rarely been considered in this context. We here present a framework that closes this gap. Dispersal evolution may be responsible for highly complex and non‐trivial range dynamics. In order to understand these, and possibly provide projections of future range positions, it is crucial to take the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of dispersal into account.

Many organisms show polymorphism in dispersal distance strategies. Th is variation is particularly ecological relevant if it encompasses a functional separation of short-(SDD) and long-distance dispersal (LDD). It remains, however, an open question whether both parts of the dispersal kernel are similarly aff ected by landscape related selection pressures.We implemented an individual-based model to analyze the evolution of dispersal traits in fractal landscapes that vary in the proportion of habitat and its spatial confi guration. Individuals are parthenogenetic with dispersal distance determined by two alleles on each individual's genome: one allele coding for the probability of global dispersal and one allele coding for the variance σ of a Gaussian local dispersal with mean value zero.Simulations show that mean distances of local dispersal and the probability of global dispersal, increase with increasing habitat availability, but that changes in the habitat's spatial autocorrelation impose opposing selective pressure: local dispersal distances decrease and global dispersal probabilities increase with decreasing spatial autocorrelation of the available habitat. Local adaptation of local dispersal distance emerges in landscapes with less than 70% of clumped habitat.Th ese results demonstrate that long and short distance dispersal evolve separately according to diff erent properties of the landscape. Th e landscape structure may consequently largely aff ect the evolution of dispersal distance strategies and the level of dispersal polymorphism.

Roughly 40 years after its introduction, the metapopulation concept is central to population ecology. The notion that local populations and their dynamics may be coupled by dispersal is without any doubt of great importance for our understanding of population‐level processes. A metapopulation describes a set of subpopulations linked by (rare) dispersal events in a dynamic equilibrium of extinctions and recolonizations. In the large body of literature that has accumulated, the term “metapopulation” is often used in a very broad sense; most of the time it simply implies spatial heterogeneity. A number of reviews have recently addressed this problem and have pointed out that, despite the large and still growing popularity of the metapopulation concept, there are only very few empirical examples that conform with the strict classical metapopulation (CM) definition. In order to understand this discrepancy between theory and observation, we use an individual‐based modeling approach that allows us to pinpoint the environmental conditions and the life‐history attributes required for the emergence of a CM structure. We find that CM dynamics are restricted to a specific parameter range at the border between spatially structured but completely occupied and globally extinct populations. Considering general life‐history attributes, our simulations suggest that CMs are more likely to occur in arthropod species than in (large) vertebrates. Since the specific type of spatial population structure determines conservation concepts, our findings have important implications for conservation biology. Our model suggests that most spatially structured populations are panmictic, patchy, or of mainland–island type, which makes efforts spent on increasing connectivity (e.g., corridors) questionable. If one does observe a true CM structure, this means that the focal metapopulation is on the brink of extinction and that drastic conservation measures are needed.

We present the results of individual-based simulation experiments on the evolution of dispersal rates of organisms living in metapopulations. We find conflicting results regarding the relationship between local extinction rate and evolutionarily stable (ES) dispersal rate depending on which principal mechanism causes extinction: if extinction is caused by environmental catastrophes eradicating local populations, we observe a positive correlation between extinction and ES dispersal rate; if extinction is a consequence of stochastic local dynamics and environmental fluctuations, the correlation becomes ambiguous; and in cases where extinction is caused by dispersal mortality, a negative correlation between local extinction rate and ES dispersal rate emerges. We conclude that extinction rate, which both affects and is affected by dispersal rates, is not an ideal predictor for optimal dispersal rates.

Summary 1.One of the most noticeable effects of anthropogenic climate change is the shift in timing of seasonal events towards earlier occurrence. The high degree of variation in species' phenological shifts has raised concerns about the temporal decoupling of interspecific interactions, but the extent and implications of this effect are largely unknown. In the case of plant-pollinator systems, more specialized species are predicted to be particularly threatened by phenological decoupling, since they are assumed to be less flexible in the choice of interaction partners, but until now this hypothesis has not been tested. 2. In this paper, we studied phenology and interactions of plant and pollinator communities along an altitudinal gradient in the Alps as a model for the possible effects of climate change in time. 3. Our results show that even relatively specialized pollinators were much more flexible in their use of plant species as floral resources than their local flower visitation suggested. We found no relationship between local specialization of pollinators and the consistency of their visitation patterns across sites, and also no relationship between specialization and phenological synchrony of pollinators with particular plants. 4. Thus, in contrast to the conclusions of a recent simulation study, our results suggest that most pollinator species included in this study are not threatened by phenological decoupling from specific flowering plants. However, the flexibility of many rarely observed pollinator species remains unknown. Moreover, our results suggest that specialized flower visitors select plant species based on certain floral traits such as the length of the nectar holder tube. If that is the case, the observed flexibility of plant-pollinator interactions likely depends on a high degree of functional redundancy in the plant community, which may not exist in less diverse systems.

Abstract. Oviposition site selection is crucial for the reproductive success of herbivorous insects. According to the preference-performance hypothesis, females should oviposit on host plants that enhance the performance of their offspring. More specifically, the plant vigor hypothesis predicts that females should prefer large and vigorously growing host plants for oviposition and that larvae should perform best on these plants.The present study examined whether females of the monophagous leaf beetle Cassida canaliculata Laich. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) prefer to oviposit on large host plant individuals of the meadow clary and whether large host plants are of higher nutritional quality than small host plants. Subsequently, it was tested whether the female preference correlates with offspring performance and survival.In the field, females preferred large host plant individuals for oviposition and host plant quality, i.e. leaf nitrogen content, was significantly higher in leaves of large than of small host plants. In the laboratory, larval development time was shorter on leaves of large host plant individuals than on small host plant individuals, but this could not be shown in the field. However, a predator-exclusion experiment in the field resulted in a higher survival of larvae on large host plants than on small host plants when all predators had free access to the plants. On caged host plants there was no difference in survival of larvae between plant size categories.It is concluded that females of C. canaliculata select oviposition sites that enhance both performance and survival of their offspring, which meets the predictions of the plant vigor hypothesis.

Dispersal is a central process to almost all species on earth, as it connects spatially structured populations and thereby increases population persistence. Dispersal is subject to (rapid) evolution and local patch extinctions are an important selective force in this context. In contrast to the randomly distributed local extinctions considered in most theoretical studies, habitat fragmentation or other anthropogenic interventions will lead to spatially correlated extinction patterns. Under such conditions natural selection is thought to lead to more long-distance dispersal, but this theoretical prediction has not yet been verified empirically. We test this prediction in experimental spatially structured populations of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae and supplement these empirical results with insights from an individual-based evolutionary model. We demonstrate that the spatial correlation of local extinctions changes the entire distribution of dispersal distances (dispersal kernel) and selects for overall less emigration but more long-distance dispersal.