Reproductive benefits associated with dispersal in headwater populations of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Theory suggests that the evolution of dispersal is balanced by its fitness costs and benefits, yet empirical evidence is sparse due to the difficulties of measuring dispersal and fitness in natural populations. Here, we use spatially-explicit data from a multi-generational capture-mark-recapture study of two populations of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) along with pedigrees to test whether there are fitness benefits correlated with dispersal. Combining these ecological and molecular datasets allows us to directly measure the relationship between movement and reproduction. Individual dispersal was measured as the total distance moved by a fish during its lifetime. We analyzed the effects of dispersal propensity and distance on a variety of reproductive metrics. We found that number of mates and number of offspring produced were positively correlated to dispersal, especially for males. Our results also reveal individual and environmental variation in dispersal, with sex, size, season, and stream acting as determining factors.