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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Introducing A "Boundary-Flux" Approach to Quantifying Insect Diffusion Rates
Contributor:
Fagan, William F.
imprint:
Ecological Society of America, 1997
Published in:Ecology
Language:
English
ISSN:
0012-9658;
1939-9170
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<p>Dispersal behaviors of organisms have been the subject of extensive ecological investigation at both the theoretical and experimental levels. One common framework for field studies of dispersal behavior that can be easily melded with theoretical work is the calculation of "diffusion rates." Traditionally, this approach to studying dispersal has required (1) the tedious location of large numbers of individuals at a particular time or (2) actively tracking the movements of individuals. Here, I present a flux-based or "boundary-oriented" methodology that quantifies the passage of individuals into an absorbing boundary of known location at multiple point in time. This approach, which is the natural complement of existing methods, may make quantification of dispersal behavior more practical for time-strapped field researchers. Under the umbrella of the flux-based approach presented here, I use data from field experiments to determine the effect of initial density on dispersal rate for two sympatric species of praying mantids, species of generalist arthropod predators common in early successional fields. Unlike existing techniques, the methodology I outline here is specifically designed to handle dispersal data recorded from the two-dimensional, "plot-oriented" world of terrestrial ecology, facilitating the measurement of species-specific dispersal parameters that are necessary for meshing several important aspects of theoretical and experimental ecology.</p>