Intraspecific variation and population dynamics

Although many ecologists use the species as the unit of analysis in numerous global change and conservation biology studies, there is ample evidence that species are not uniform entities, and variation among individuals and populations influences species and community dynamics. Individuals from different populations may have distinct phenotypic responses to environmental conditions, and variation among individuals can influence demographic traits directly as well as via feedbacks from population dynamics to individual life history and vice versa (Fandos et al. 2020).

I analysed intraspecific seasonal niche dynamics comparing migratory and sedentary populations (Fandos and Tellería 2020) and individuals (Fandos et al. 2020). In particular, I analysed if the different individuals and populations track their climatic niches when they move from breeding to wintering areas and vice versa since different migratory behaviours experience vastly different climatic conditions throughout the year. Moreover, I contributed to the analysis of intraindividual variability of numerous traits in plants to found that plastic changes of intra-individual variability are an essential determinant of whether species will be able to cope with climatic change (March-Salas et al. 2021).