Functional traits in red flour beetles: the dispersal phenotype is associated with leg length but not body size nor metabolic rate

Individuals vary in their ability to disperse. Much of this variation can be described by covarying phenotypic traits that are related to dispersal (constituting the ‘dispersal phenotype’ or ‘dispersal syndrome’), but the nature of the associations among these traits is not well understood. Unravelling the associations among traits that potentially constitute the dispersal phenotype provides a foundation for understanding evolutionary trade-offs due to variation in dispersal.
Here, we tested five predictions pertaining to the relationships among physiological, morphological and movement traits that are associated with dispersal, using a species with a long history as a laboratory model for studying ecological phenomena, red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum).
We identified a dominant axis of movement ability that describes variation in dispersal-related movement traits. Individuals that scored positively on this axis moved at higher speed, travelled longer distances, had lower moveme...