Evolutionarily stable dispersal rates do not always increase with local extinction rates

Earlier models on the evolution of dispersal have suggested that evolutiona rily stable dispersal rates should increase with the frequency of local ext inctions. Most metapopulation models assume site saturation (i.e., no local population dynamics), yet the majority of species distributed as metapopul ations rarely attain carrying capacity in all occupied patches. In this art icle, we relax this assumption and examine the evolutionarily stable disper sal rate under nonsaturated but still competitive demographic conditions. C ontrary to previous predictions, we show that increasing local extinction r ates may allow decreasing dispersal rates to evolve.