Chaotic dynamics may determine the effect of inter-patch migration on metapopulation survival |
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Authors: | Graeme D. Ruxton |
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Affiliation: | (1) Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK |
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Abstract: | A simple, strategic model of a system of habitat fragments connected by conservation corridors is presented. The intrinsic dynamics of the population on each fragment are stochastic. In addition, at each generation there is a probability of a catastrophic event occurring which affects all the habitat fragments by greatly reducing the size of the population on each. Global extinction is considered to occur when all the populations simultaneously fall below a threshold value. If the intrinsic dynamics on each fragment are simple cycles or a stable equilibrium, then the addition of conservation corridors does not reduce the frequency of global extinction. This is because migration between fragments induces their populations to have values which are similar to each other. However, if the intrinsic population dynamics are chaotic then the probability of global extinction is greatly reduced by the introduction of conservation corridors. Although local extinction is likely, the chaos acts to oppose the synchronising effect of migration. Often a subset of the populations survive a catastrophe and can recolonize the other patches. |
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Keywords: | Chaos migration extinction |
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