Plant Population Dynamics in a Patchy System*

Patchiness has been increasingly recognized by ecologists as a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature. Therefore, substantial research has been directed at modeling the dynamics of metapopulations in patchy habitat settings (e.g., den Boer, 1968; Levins, 1969, 1970; Levins and Culver, 1971; Roff, 1974a,b; Levin, 1976b, 1978; Hastings, 1982, 1991; Hanski, 1983, 1985, 1991; Fahrig and Merriam, 1985; DeAngelis and Waterhouse, 1987; Lawton, 1987; Fahrig, 1988a,b; Hastings and Wolin, 1989; Shorrocks and Swingland, 1990; Taylor, 1990, 1991; Gilpin, 1991; Hanski and Gilpin, 1991; Hansson, 1991; Merriam et al., 1991; Sabelis et al., 1991). Because traditional modeling paradigms in ecology usually assume a spatially uniform environment, incorporation of spatial heterogeneity may revolutionize many of the current ecological theories derived from homogeneous models. In fact, the current understanding of the dynamics and persistence of metapopulation systems has been based primarily on such modeling studies.