P. Cury, OBSTINATE NATURE - AN ECOLOGY OF INDIVIDUALS - THOUGHTS ON REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR AND BIODIVERSITY, Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences, 51(7), 1994, pp. 1664-1673
Marine turtles, salmon, and many other marine and terrestrial animals
exhibit similar reproductive strategies in which the adults return to
the site of their birth (''natal homing''). For these species, imprint
ing is the basic mechanism that allows every individual to place its p
rogeny in an environment geographically similar to the one experienced
at an early life stage. A tentative generalization of ''natal homing'
' is presented within which homing is viewed as part of a continuum of
reproductive strategies, all relying on imprinting. This generalizati
on postulates that a newborn individual memorizes early environmental
cues, which later determine the choice of its reproductive environment
. Thus, the same mechanism accounts for successive generations reprodu
cing at the same geographic location (philopatry) or aiming at a movin
g target, i.e., a set of environmental conditions that do not always h
ave the same earth coordinates (dispersal). As a consequence, the adap
tability of a population to its environment is ensured because of the
diversity and multitude of imprinted individuals and not because of th
eir individual adaptability. Diversity of life is thus perhaps more im
pressive than usually thought. Some ecological and evolutionary conseq
uences of this generalization are explored and its application to mari
ne fish discussed.