Evolution of Sex-Biased Dispersal.

AbstractDispersal is central in ecology and evolution because it influences population regulation, adaptation, and speciation. In many species, dispersal is different between genders, leading to sex-biased dispersal. Several theoretical hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of this bias: the resource competition hypothesis proposed by Greenwood, the local mate competition hypothesis, and the inbreeding avoidance hypothesis. Those hypotheses argued that the mating system should be the major factor explaining the direction of such bias. Sociality and the presence of handicap in genders (exaggerated sexual characters or parental care) have recently been proposed to be linked with the direction of this bias. We tested these expected coevolutions using a database of 257 species. Based on phylogenetic approaches, our findings marginally corroborated Greenwood’s hypothesis by showing relationships between the direction of sex-biased dispersal, mating systems, and territoriality. More importantly...