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arXiv · 1305.2769

Impact of dispersal on the stability of metapopulations

Eric Tromeur·Lars Rudolf·Thilo Gross
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Abstract

Dispersal is a key ecological process, that enables local populations to form spatially extended systems called metapopulations. In the present study, we investigate how dispersal affects the linear stability of a general single-species metapopulation model. We discuss both the influence of local within-patch dynamics and the effects of various dispersal behaviors on stability. We find that positive density-dependent dispersal and positive density-dependent settlement are destabilizing dispersal behaviors while negative density-dependent dispersal and negative density-dependent settlement are stabilizing. It is also shown that dispersal has a stabilizing impact on heterogeneous metapopulations that correlates positively with the number of patches and the connectance of metapopulation networks.

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Eric Tromeur, Lars Rudolf, Thilo Gross. 2013-05-13. Impact of dispersal on the stability of metapopulations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.11.029

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