Biological dispersal refers to both the movement of individuals (
animals,
plants,
fungi,
bacteria, etc.) from their birth site to their breeding site ('natal dispersal'), as well as the movement from one breeding site to another ('breeding dispersal'). Dispersal is also used to describe the movement of
propagules such as
seeds and
spores. Technically, dispersal is defined as any movement that has the potential to lead to
gene flow. The act of dispersal involves three phases: departure, transfer, settlement and there are different fitness costs and benefits associated with each of these phases. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual
fitness, but also for
population dynamics,
population genetics, and
species distribution. Understanding dispersal and the consequences both for evolutionary strategies at a species level, and for processes at an ecosystem level, requires understanding on the type of dispersal, the dispersal
range of a given species, and the dispersal mechanisms involved.