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Dispersal Behavior Correlates With Personality Of A North American Fish, Josh E. Rasmussen, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

The process of dispersal is determined by the interaction of individual (intrinsic) traits and environmental (extrinsic) factors. Although many studies address and quantify dispersal, few evaluate both intrinsic and extrinsic factors jointly. We test the relative importance of intrinsic traits (exploration tendency and size) and extrinsic factors (population density and habitat quality) on dispersal of a medium-sized western United States minnow, southern leatherside chub Lepidomeda aliciae. A generalized linear model with a binomial response was used to determine the probability of individuals dispersing one year after tagging. Medium-sized individuals that were more prone to explore novel environments were 10.7 …