https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2004-00118-9
Networks in metapopulation dynamics
1
Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology,
02015 Espoo, Finland
2
Abteilung Theoretische Biologie, IZMB,
Universität Bonn, 53012 Bonn, Germany
Corresponding author: a mja@fyslab.hut.fi
Received:
24
October
2003
Revised:
8
December
2003
Published online:
14
May
2004
The behavior of spatially inhomogeneous populations in networks of habitats provides examples of dynamical systems on random graphs with structure. A particular example is a butterfly species inhabiting the Åland archipelago. A metapopulation description of the patch occupancies is here mapped to a quenched graph, using the empirical ecology-based incidence function description as a starting point. Such graphs are shown to have interesting features that both reflect the probably “self-organized” nature of a metapopulation that can survive and the geographical details of the landscape. Simulations of the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible model, to mimick the time-dependent population dynamics relate to the graph features: lack of a typical scale, large connectivity per vertex, and the existence of independent subgraphs. Finally, ideas related to the application and extension of scale-free graphs to metapopulations are discussed.
PACS: 87.23.Cc – Population-dynamics and ecological pattern formation / 89.75.Hc – Networks and genealogical trees / 89.75.Fb – Structures and organization in complex systems
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2004