Hydrodynamic and biological constraints on group cohesion in plankton

The dynamics of plankton in the ocean are determined by biophysical interactions. Although physics and biotic behaviors are known to influence the observed patchiness of planktonic populations, it is still unclear how much, and if, group behavior contributes to this biophysical interaction. Here, we demonstrate how simple rules of behavior can enhance or inhibit active group cohesion in plankton in a turbulent environment. In this study, we used coral-reef fish larvae as a model to investigate the interaction between microscale turbulence and planktonic organisms. We synthesized available information on the swimming speeds and sizes of reef fish larvae, and developed a set of equations to investigate the effects of viscosity and turbulence on larvae dispersion. We then calculated the critical dispersion rates for three different swimming strategies - cruise, random-walk, and pause-travel - to determine which strategies could facilitate group cohesion during dispersal. Our results indicate that swimming strategies and migration to low-turbulence regions are the key to maintaining group cohesion, suggesting that many reef fish species have the potential to remain together, from hatching to settlement. In addition, larvae might change their swimming strategies to maintain group cohesion, depending on environmental conditions and/or their ontogenic stage. This study provides a better understanding of the hydrodynamic and biological constraints on group formation and cohesion in planktonic organisms, and reveals a wide range of conditions under which group formation may occur.

Pulsed Immigration Events Can Facilitate Adaptation to Harsh Sink Environments

In nature, rates of dispersal vary greatly over time, yet most theoretical explorations of ecological and evolutionary dynamics to date have assumed constant movement rates. Here we examine how a particular pattern of temporal variation-periodic pulses of immigration-influences adaptation to a harsh environment, in which a species experiences conditions outside its niche requirements. Using both deterministic models and stochastic individual-based simulations, we show that for many ecological and genetic scenarios, temporally spacing out immigration events increases the probability that local adaptation is sufficient for persistence (i.e., niche evolution). When immigration events are too frequent, gene flow can hamper local adaptation in sexual species, but sufficiently infrequent pulses of immigration allow for repeated opportunities for adaptation with temporary escapes from gene flow during which local selection is unleashed. We develop versions of our models with and without density dependence for three different assumptions about the genetics underlying fitness (haploid, diploid, and quantitative genetic variation) so that our results may be applicable to a wide range of natural systems. Our study adds to a growing body of literature showing that temporal variation in migration rates can have significant effects on local adaptation and is among the first to show how such variation affects niche evolution.