Dispersal kernels: review

This chapter discusses the basic concepts, questions, tools, and future directions in using dispersal kernels to study the behaviour and ecology of animals and plants. It begins with a discussion of distance — the most basic spatial descriptor of dispersal. Dispersal distance, the Euclidian distance between ‘start’ and ‘end’ points of a dispersal event, is recognized as a fundamental characteristic of the dispersal process, defined here as the movement of dispersers from their natal site or their breeding home range to a new place of potential establishment. Although dispersal distance cannot capture all aspects of how dispersal shapes post-dispersal survival and subsequent population and community dynamics, it has been used extensively in this context because it represents some key features of these relationships.