Dispersal behaviour of individuals in metapopulations of two British butterflies

individual M. jurtina translocated within habitat did not return towards their capture point, whereas individuals translocated similar distances out of habitat did return to their 'home' patch. We conclude that butterfly 'homing behaviour' is not based on an inherent preference for a familiar location, but that familiarity with an area facilitates the recognition of suitable habitat, towards which individuals orient if they find themselves in unsuitable habitat. Contrary to conven- tional wisdom, we suggest that frequent, short 'excursions' over habitat patch boundaries are evolutionarily advantageous to individuals, because increased famil- iarity with the surrounding environment is likely to increase the ability of a straying animal to return to its natural habitat, and to reduce the rate of mortality experi- enced by individuals attempting to disperse between habitat patches. We discuss the implications of the non-random dispersal for existing metapopulation models, includ- ing models of the evolution of dispersal rates.

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