Life Sciences Commons^™

A Unifying Gravity Framework For Dispersal, Eelke Jongejans, Olav Skarpaas, Matthew J. Ferrari, Eric S. Long, Joseph T. Dauer, Carrie M. Schwarz, Emily S.J. Rauschert, Randa Jabbour, David A. Mortensen, Scott A. Isard, David A. Lieb, Zeynep Sezen, Andrew G. Hulting, Katriona Shea

Emily Rauschert

Most organisms disperse at some life-history stage, but different research traditions to study dispersal have evolved in botany, zoology, and epidemiology. In this paper, we synthesize concepts, principles, patterns, and processes in dispersal across organisms. We suggest a consistent conceptual framework for dispersal, which utilizes generalized gravity models. This framework will facilitate communication among research traditions, guide the development of dispersal models for theoretical and applied ecology, and enable common representation across taxonomic groups, encapsulating processes at the source and destination of movement, as well as during the intervening relocation process, while allowing each of these stages in the dispersal …