Landscape Effects on Individual Movement and Dispersal

Abstract

Movement is a fundamental process that enables individuals to find food or mates, locate suitable habitat, and colonize new areas. The effect of environmental heterogeneity on individual movement behavior is the finest scale at which organisms respond to landscape structure, and can be used to define different species’ perceptions of landscape structure. This chapter discusses different types and scales of movement, how patch structure is expected to influence movement, and various methods for tracking and analyzing animal movement. Because animal movements are typically bounded in space, the estimation of space utilization and home-range size is also considered in this chapter. The chapter concludes with a discussion of various approaches to measuring plant dispersal, which is likewise important for evaluating how movement (via propagules) translates into the redistribution or spread of populations across the landscape.