The term extinction threshold refers to a critical value of some attribute, such as the amount of habitat in the landscape, below which a population, a metapopulation, or a species does not persist. In this paper we discuss the existence and behavior of extinction thresholds in the context of metapopulation models. We review and extend recent developments in the theory and application of patch ...

Key factors affecting metapopulation dynamics of animals include patch size, isolation, and patch quality. For wetlandassociated species, hydrology can affect patch availability, connectivity, and potentially habitat quality; and therefore drive metapopulation dynamics. Wetlands occurring on natural river floodplains typically have more dynamic hydrology than anthropogenic wetlands. Our overall...

Metapopulations function and persist through a combination of processes acting at a variety of spatial scales. Although the contributions of stage structure, spatially correlated processes, and the rescue effect to metapopulation dynamics have been investigated in isolation, there is no empirical demonstration of all of these processes shaping dynamics in a single system. Dispersal and settleme...

We study the evolution of resource utilization in a structured discrete time metapopulation model with an infinite number of patches, prone to local catastrophes that wipe out the entire local population but leave the patch itself habitable. We assume that there are two distinct resources in each patch and the strategy of an individual is the degree of specialization on the usage of these resou...

Understanding how host dynamics, including variations of population size and dispersal, may affect the epidemiology of infectious diseases through ecological and evolutionary processes is an active research area. Here we focus on a bank vole (Myodes glareolus) metapopulation surveyed in Finland between 2005 and 2009. Bank vole is the reservoir of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), the agent of nephropa...

A spatial metapopulation is a mosaic of interconnected patch populations. The complex routes of colonization between the patches are governed by the metapopulation's dispersal network. Over the past two decades, there has been considerable interest in uncovering the effects of dispersal network topology and its symmetry on metapopulation persistence. While most studies find that the level of sy...

In this article we study the evolution of dispersal in a structured metapopulation model. The metapopulation consists of a large (infinite) number of local populations living in patches of habitable environment. Dispersal between patches is modelled by a disperser pool and individuals in transit between patches are exposed to a risk of mortality. Occasionally, local catastrophes eradicate a loc...

Metapopulation processes are important determinants of epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics in host-pathogen systems, and are therefore central to explaining observed patterns of disease or genetic diversity. In particular, the spatial scale of interactions between pathogens and their hosts is of primary importance because migration rates of one species can affect both spatial and temporal...