Drivers of animal movement and some consequences for species interactions-Anthony Dell

Living Earth Collaborative Seminar featuring Anthony Dell, NGRREC/Washington University

"Drivers of animal movement and some consequences for species interactions"

A huge diversity of factors influence how animals move, including body size, temperature, hunger, and how resources are distributed across the landscape. These and other effects on movement have important consequences for species interactions, and thus patterns of biodiversity from local to global scales. Using data and theory, and examples that span taxa and environments, I will explore some of the mechanisms by which environmental drivers influence how animals move and behave at local scales, and the resulting (and often surprising!) multi-scale impacts on ecological systems. Uncovering these patterns and processes should lead to a more predictive science of community ecology, providing a mechanistic link between the individual organisms and entire ecosystems.