Unexpected hitchhikers

Arthropods are pretty good at self-distributing even without human help – we just extend the speed and distance of travel. Many of them have wings. Others hitch rides on creatures that do, or they travel on plant matter that is distributed by water or wind. Young spiders may use bits of web to travel aerially (“ballooning”).

What impresses me the most are the zooplankton who somehow manage to colonize seasonal puddles, often astonishingly quickly, in spite of the lack of any obvious route that would allow them to get there.