Landscape fragmentation overturns classical metapopulation thinking

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tao, Yun; Hastings, Alan; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Hanski, Ilkka; Ovaskainen, Otso
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara; University System of Georgia; University of Georgia; University of California System; University of California Davis; The Santa Fe Institute; United States Department of the Interior; United States Geological Survey; University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara; University of Helsinki; University of Jyvaskyla; Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-14434
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303846121
• 发表日期: 2024-05-14
• 关键词: habitat fragmentation; extinction thresholds; persistence; DYNAMICS; dispersal; CONSERVATION; synchrony; models

摘要

Habitat loss and isolation caused by landscape fragmentation represent a growing threat to global biodiversity. Existing theory suggests that the process will lead to a decline in metapopulation viability. However, since most metapopulation models are restricted to simple networks of discrete habitat patches, the effects of real landscape fragmentation, particularly in stochastic environments, are not well understood. To close this major gap in ecological theory, we developed a spatially explicit, individual - based model applicable to realistic landscape structures, bridging metapopulation ecology and landscape ecology. This model reproduced classical metapopulation dynamics under conventional model assumptions, but on fragmented landscapes, it uncovered general dynamics that are in stark contradiction to the prevailing views in the ecological and conservation literature. Notably, fragmentation can give rise to a series of dualities: a) positive and negative responses to environmental noise, b) relative slowdown and acceleration in density decline, and c) synchronization and desynchronization of local population dynamics. Furthermore, counter to common intuition, species that interact locally (residents) were often more resilient to fragmentation than long - ranging migrants. This set of findings signals a need to fundamentally reconsider our approach to ecosystem management in a noisy and fragmented world.