The Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Persistence of Source–Sink Metapopulations in Systems with Predators and Prey or Apparent Competitors

doi:10.1006/tpbi.1999.1422

Theoretical Population Biology

Volume 56, Issue 1, August 1999, Pages 123-137

https://doi.org/10.1006/tpbi.1999.1422 Get rights and content

Abstract

We consider systems with one predator and one prey, or a common predator and two prey species (apparent competitors) in source and sink habitats. In both models, the predator species is vulnerable to extinction, if productivity in the source is insufficient to rescue demographically deficient sink populations. Conversely, in the model with two prey species, if the source is too rich, one of the prey species may be driven extinct by apparent competition, since the predator can maintain a large population because of the alternative prey. Increasing the rate of predator movement from the source population has opposite effects on prey and predator persistence. High emigration rate exposes the predator population to danger of extinction, reducing the number of individuals that breed and produce offspring in the source habitat. This may promote coexistence of prey by relaxing predation pressure and apparent competition between the two prey species. The number of sinks and spatial arrangement of patches, or connectivity between patches, also influence persistence of the species. More sinks favor the prey and fewer sinks are advantageous to the predator. A linear pattern with the source at one end is profitable for the predator, and a centrifugal pattern in which the source is surrounded by sinks is advantageous to the prey. When the dispersal rate is low, effects of the spatial structure may exceed those of the number of sinks. In brief, productivity in patches and patterns of connectivity between patches differentially influence persistence of populations in different trophic levels.

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^f1: E-mail: [email protected]

¹: Present address: Department of Environmental Sciences, Osaka Women's University, Daison-cho 2-1, Sakai, Osaka 590-0035, Japan.

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Regular ArticleThe Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Persistence of Source–Sink Metapopulations in Systems with Predators and Prey or Apparent Competitors

Abstract

Math. Biosci.

Bull. Math. Biol.

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Landscape Urban Planning

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Theor. Popul. Biol.

Biol. J. Linnean Soc.

Biol. J. Linnean Soc.

Biol. J. Linnean Soc.

Theor. Popul. Biol.

Theor. Popul. Biol.

Theor. Popul. Biol.

Ecol. Model.

Ecol. Model.

Apparent competition or apparent mutualism? Shared predation when populations cycle

Ecology

Persistence, extinction, and critical patch number for island populations

J. Math. Biol.

Apparent competition structures ecological assemblages

Nature

Turnover rates in insular biogeography: Effect of immigration on extinction

Ecology

Extinction rates in archipelagoes: Implications for populations in fragmented habitats

Conserv. Biol.

Landscape graphs: Ecological modeling with graph theory to detect configurations common to diverse landscapes

Landscape Ecol.

Predator-mediated coexistence: A nonequilibrium model

Am. Nat.

Making mistakes when predicting shifts in species range in response to global warming

Nature

Juvenile dispersal, limited breeding sites, and the dynamics of metapopulations

Theor. Popul. Biol.

Reproductive success of migratory birds in habitat sources and sinks

Conserv. Biol.

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Conservation of fragment populations

Conserv. Biol.

Conservation Biology: The Theory and Practice of Nature Conservation and Preservation and Management

Spatial structure and population vulnerability

Metapopulation Dynamics: Empirical and Theoretical Investigations

Interactions of intraspecific, interspecific, and apparent competition with host-pathogen population dynamics

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Metapopulation Biology: Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution

Metapopulations and conservation

Global stability in Lotka–Volterra systems with diffusion

J. Math. Biol.

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Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.

Regular Article
The Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Persistence of Source–Sink Metapopulations in Systems with Predators and Prey or Apparent Competitors