title: Behavioural synchronization of large-scale animal movements - disperse alone, but migrate together?
abstract: Dispersal and migration are superficially similar large-scale movements, but which appear to differ in terms of inter-individual behavioural synchronization. Seasonal migration is a striking example of coordinated behaviour, enabling animal populations to track spatio-temporal variation in ecological conditions. By contrast, for dispersal, while social context may influence an individual's emigration and settlement decisions, transience is believed to be mostly a solitary behaviour. Here, we review differences in drivers that may explain why migration appears to be more synchronized than dispersal. We derive the prediction that the contrast in the importance of behavioural synchronization between dispersal and migration is linked to differences in the selection pressures that drive their respective evolution. Although documented examples of collective dispersal are rare, this behaviour may be more common than currently believed, with important consequences for eco-evolutionary dynamics. Crucially, to date, there is little available theory for predicting when we should expect collective dispersal to evolve, and we also lack empirical data to test predictions across species. By reviewing the state of the art in research on migration and collective movements, we identify how we can harness these advances, both in terms of theory and data collection, to broaden our understanding of synchronized dispersal and its importance in the context of global change.
authors.affiliation: ENFA and UMR 5174 EDB (Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique), CNRS, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Toulouse cedex 9, F-31062, France.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cote
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK.
authors.forename: Greta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bocedi
authors.affiliation: CEFS, INRA, Université de Toulouse, Castanet Tolosan, 31320, France.|Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Debeffe
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde, 4000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Magda E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Chudzińska
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 68, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Helene C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Weigang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Calvin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dytham
authors.affiliation: CEFS, INRA, Université de Toulouse, Castanet Tolosan, 31320, France.
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, B-2610, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matthysen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Travis
authors.affiliation: Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Experimentale, CNRS UMR 5321, Moulis, 09200, France.|Institut De Systématique, Evolution et Biodiversité, UMR 7205, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris cedex 5, FR-75005, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baguette
authors.affiliation: CEFS, INRA, Université de Toulouse, Castanet Tolosan, 31320, France.
authors.forename: A J Mark
authors.initials: AJM
authors.lastname: Hewison
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D057231:Climate Change; D004463:Ecology; D011157:Population Dynamics
keywords: budding; coalition; coordinated movement; dispersal; parallel dispersal; schooling; seasonal migration; sociability; social grouping; transience