Methods for designing regional reserve networks mostly concentrate on providing maximal representation of species occurring in the region. Representation-based methods, however, typically consider a static snapshot of species incidences, and the spatial dynamics of the species are ignored. It has been empirically demonstrated that reserves designed using representation do not guarantee another ...

We review and introduce a generalized reaction-diffusion approach to epidemic spreading in a metapopulation modeled as a complex network. The metapopulation consists of susceptible and infected individuals that are grouped in subpopulations symbolising cities and villages that are coupled by human travel in a transportation network. By analytic methods and numerical simulations we calculate the...

1. This paper describes a novel approach to modelling of metapopulation dynamics. The model is constructed as a generalized incidence function, which describes how the fraction of occupied habitat patches depends on patch areas and isolations. 2. The model may be fitted to presence/absence data from a metapopulation at a dynamic equilibrium between extinctions and colonizations. 3. Using the es...

Larval dispersal can connect distant subpopulations, with important implications for marine population dynamics and persistence, biodiversity conservation and fisheries management. However, different dispersal pathways may affect the final phenotypes, and thus the performance and fitness of individuals that settle into subpopulations. Using otolith microchemical signatures that are indicative o...

1 Results from patch-occupancy metapopulation models indicate that a trade-off between competitive and colonization abilities is necessary for species to coexist in patchy environments. However, such models are often based on unrealistic ecological assumptions, such as global dispersal and no local population dynamics. 2 We develop a plant metapopulation model that allows us to sequentially rel...

The regional dynamics of pond-breeding amphibians are often discussed in the context of metapopulations, under the assumption that individual ponds support distinct subpopulations. We used a combination of indirect and direct methods to assess the spatial population structure of California tiger salamanders (Ambystoma californiense) relative to two basic requirements of metapopulation models: (...

Immigration can rescue local populations from extinction, helping to stabilize a metapopulation. Local population dynamics is important for determining the strength of this rescue effect, but the mechanistic link between local demographic parameters and the rescue effect at the metapopulation level has received very little attention by modellers. We develop an analytical framework that allows u...

To study the interplay of rare outcrossing and metapopulation structure, we focus on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Its remarkably low outcrossing rate is at the extreme end of the spectrum for facultative selfing organisms. At the demographic level, C. elegans natural populations undergo boom and bust dynamics on ephemeral resources, with the dauer diapause larva acting as the dispersal f...

In a metapopulation network, infectious diseases spread widely because of the travel of individuals. In the present study, we consider a modified metapopulation Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model with a latent period, which we call the SHIR model. In the SHIR model, an infectious period is divided into two stages. In the first stage, which corresponds to the latent period, infectious indi...

Oceanographic forces can strongly affect the movement of planktonic marine larvae, often producing predictable spatial patterns of larval delivery. In particular, recent empirical evidence suggests that in some coastal systems, certain locations consistently receive higher (or lower) larval supplies of both predators and their prey. As a consequence, rates of settlement and predation may be cou...