title: Does habitat unpredictability promote the evolution of a colonizer syndrome in amphibian metapopulations?
abstract: Dispersal is a central component of life history evolution. An increasing number of studies suggest that spatiotemporally variable environments may promote the evolution of "dispersal syndromes," consisting of covariation patterns between dispersal and morphological, physiological, behavioral, and life history traits. At the interspecific scale, the "colonizer syndrome" appears to be one of the most frequently recorded associations between dispersal and life history traits, linking a high dispersal rate, high fecundity, and a short lifespan as systematically combined adaptations in spatiotemporally varying environments. However, few studies have highlighted the existence of a "colonizer syndrome" at the intraspecific scale, and none have investigated how different degrees of habitat stochasticity might shape covariation patterns between dispersal and life history traits. In this study, we examined this issue in free-ranging metapopulations of the yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) using capture-recapture data. Combining the results of this study with another recent study, we found that a high dispersal rate, high fecundity, and a short lifespan are associated in metapopulations experiencing unpredictable environments. In contrast, a very low dispersal rate (close to zero), low fecundity and a long lifespan are associated in metapopulations occupying predictable environments. We discuss these results as well as their demographic and evolutionary consequences.
authors.affiliation: UMR 5023 LEHNA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, 69100, Villeurbanne, France.|PSL Research University, CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, laboratoire Biogéographie et Ecologie des vertébrés - 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cayuela
authors.affiliation: UMR 5023 LEHNA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, 69100, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boualit
authors.affiliation: PSL Research University, CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, laboratoire Biogéographie et Ecologie des vertébrés - 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arsovski
authors.affiliation: Office National des Forêts, Agence de Verdun, 55100, Verdun, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonnaire
authors.affiliation: CERFE, Centre de Recherche et Formation en Eco-éthologie, 08240, Boult-aux-Bois, France.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pichenot
authors.affiliation: UMR 5023 LEHNA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, 69100, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellec
authors.affiliation: PSL Research University, CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, laboratoire Biogéographie et Ecologie des vertébrés - 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miaud
authors.affiliation: UMR 5023 LEHNA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, 69100, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Léna
authors.affiliation: UMR 5023 LEHNA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, 69100, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.affiliation: PSL Research University, CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, laboratoire Biogéographie et Ecologie des vertébrés - 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Besnard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003710:Demography; D017753:Ecosystem; D005298:Fertility; D011157:Population Dynamics
keywords: 
  Bombina variegata
  ; amphibian; colonizer syndrome; demography; dispersal; environmental predictability; life history; multievent capture-recapture models