Disadvantages of Preferential Dispersals in Fluctuating Environments

Abstract

It has not been known whether preferential dispersal is adaptive in fluctuating environments. We investigate the effect of preferential and random dispersals in bet-hedging systems by using a discrete stochastic metapopulation model, where each site fluctuates between good and bad environments with temporal correlation. To explore the optimal migration pattern, an analytical estimation of the total growth is derived by mean field approximation. We found that the preference for fertile sites is disadvantageous when transportation among sites has a cost or the sensitivity of preference is high.