@article{ChaianunpornHovestadt2022,
  author    = {Chaianunporn, Thotsapol and Hovestadt, Thomas},
  title     = {Emergence of spatially structured populations by area-concentrated search},
  series = {Ecology and Evolution},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Ecology and Evolution},
  number    = {12},
  doi       = {10.1002/ece3.9528},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311939},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {The idea that populations are spatially structured has become a very powerful concept in ecology, raising interest in many research areas. However, despite dispersal being a core component of the concept, it typically does not consider the movement behavior underlying any dispersal. Using individual-based simulations in continuous space, we explored the emergence of a spatially structured population in landscapes with spatially heterogeneous resource distribution and with organisms following simple area-concentrated search (ACS); individuals do not, however, perceive or respond to any habitat attributes per se but only to their foraging success. We investigated the effects of different resource clustering pattern in landscapes (single large cluster vs. many small clusters) and different resource density on the spatial structure of populations and movement between resource clusters of individuals. As results, we found that foraging success increased with increasing resource density and decreasing number of resource clusters. In a wide parameter space, the system exhibited attributes of a spatially structured populations with individuals concentrated in areas of high resource density, searching within areas of resources, and "dispersing" in straight line between resource patches. "Emigration" was more likely from patches that were small or of low quality (low resource density), but we observed an interaction effect between these two parameters. With the ACS implemented, individuals tended to move deeper into a resource cluster in scenarios with moderate resource density than in scenarios with high resource density. "Looping" from patches was more likely if patches were large and of high quality. Our simulations demonstrate that spatial structure in populations may emerge if critical resources are heterogeneously distributed and if individuals follow simple movement rules (such as ACS). Neither the perception of habitat nor an explicit decision to emigrate from a patch on the side of acting individuals is necessary for the emergence of such spatial structure.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{VedderLensMartinetal.2022,
  author    = {Vedder, Daniel and Lens, Luc and Martin, Claudia A. and Pellikka, Petri and Adhikari, Hari and Heiskanen, Janne and Engler, Jan O. and Sarmento Cabral, Juliano},
  title     = {Hybridization may aid evolutionary rescue of an endangered East African passerine},
  series = {Evolutionary Applications},
  volume    = {15},
  journal   = {Evolutionary Applications},
  number    = {7},
  doi       = {10.1111/eva.13440},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287264},
  pages     = {1177-1188},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Abstract Introgressive hybridization is a process that enables gene flow across species barriers through the backcrossing of hybrids into a parent population. This may make genetic material, potentially including relevant environmental adaptations, rapidly available in a gene pool. Consequently, it has been postulated to be an important mechanism for enabling evolutionary rescue, that is the recovery of threatened populations through rapid evolutionary adaptation to novel environments. However, predicting the likelihood of such evolutionary rescue for individual species remains challenging. Here, we use the example of Zosterops silvanus, an endangered East African highland bird species suffering from severe habitat loss and fragmentation, to investigate whether hybridization with its congener Zosterops flavilateralis might enable evolutionary rescue of its Taita Hills population. To do so, we employ an empirically parameterized individual-based model to simulate the species' behaviour, physiology and genetics. We test the population's response to different assumptions of mating behaviour and multiple scenarios of habitat change. We show that as long as hybridization does take place, evolutionary rescue of Z. silvanus is likely. Intermediate hybridization rates enable the greatest long-term population growth, due to trade-offs between adaptive and maladaptive introgressed alleles. Habitat change did not have a strong effect on population growth rates, as Z. silvanus is a strong disperser and landscape configuration is therefore not the limiting factor for hybridization. Our results show that targeted gene flow may be a promising avenue to help accelerate the adaptation of endangered species to novel environments, and demonstrate how to combine empirical research and mechanistic modelling to deliver species-specific predictions for conservation planning.},
  language  = {en}
}