Interestingly, both the MAPK and WNT signalling pathway also involve the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor recently linked to differences in dispersal timing of the three buzzard morphs in our study population [ 20].
Whilst some of the methods provided similar estimates of the spread of dispersal timing at a population level there was a general trend, with the exception of methods 6 & 7, to estimate the timing of dispersal as being much earlier than method 12′s estimates, presumably because pre-dispersal excursions lead to premature assignment of the point of emigration.
Complete data on life-time reproductive success and dispersal history for a large number of males and females collected for over 30 years have revealed that natal dispersal distance was related to sex and dispersal-timing: females and early dispersers travelled on average farther than males and delayed dispersers (Gienapp and Merilä, unpublished results).
A variety of additional factors may contribute to such deviations from predictions, including oceanographic variability in dispersal pathways, timing and location of hatching and larval release, larval behaviour and mortality, and local adaptation (Faurby and Barber 2012).
Juvenile males generally disperse less far than females but showed a different timing of dispersal in female-biased plots.
saxesenii: Peer and Taborsky 2007, C. dactyliperda: Gottlieb et al. 2009) and timing of dispersal, which depends on the condition within the nest, gallery protection, delayed dispersal, and overlapping generations (X. saxesenii: Biedermann and Taborsky 2011, C. dactyliperda: Sitkov-Sharon et al. 2010).
In contrast, the timing of fruit dispersal and dispersal syndrome might be critical for species such as P. discolor, which has a rigid and impermeable seed coat and is not able to successfully germinate in water, or P. munguba, in which seedlings are not as tolerant to long-term submergence.
When comparing the timing of dispersal between colonies with and without female sexuals, we found that the presence of female sexuals delays dispersal by winged males only if no wingless males are present (Fig. 1B).
This is in contrast to terrestrial species where, for example, flowering time, migration patterns, dispersal traits, behaviour or reproductive timing have changed as phenotypic or genetic response to more favourable climatic conditions (references to be added from other reviews, this issue).
Ecological studies, however, often investigate evolutionary processes within species, such as the timing of dispersal, migration, or extinction events [4], [20].
We did not observe aggressive interactions among males of either morph or between males and workers or queens, suggesting that males independently adjust the timing of dispersal in response to their social environment.
