Welcome to the Baines Lab at the University of Toronto, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (www.eeb.utoronto.ca).
Research in the Baines lab focuses on the causes and consequences of animal movement, especially dispersal. In virtually all species, some proportion of individuals move away from their birthplace and travel to a new site to reproduce. This movement can have major consequences – impacting the spread of disease, the spatial distribution of genetic variance, and the maintenance of biodiversity, among others. A growing body of research is trying to understand what causes movement, which individuals in a population move, and how this individual movement behaviour scales up to influence the dynamics of populations and communities. In our research, we use a variety of approaches including theoretical modeling, microcosm experiments in the lab, and large field studies to answer these questions.
Baines Lab 