On the Dispersal of Drosophila

Abstract

A re-examination of published data on the dispersal of several Drosophila species suggests that the logarithm of the number of recaptured flies decreases linearly with the square root of distance from the point of release. This relationship holds for day by day recaptures and, rather closely, for "life time" dispersal as well. A dispersal pattern of this sort should lead to greater than expected levels of inbreeding in local populations. Immigrants from other populations, on the other hand, are very nearly as likely to be from distant as from nearby localities.