Eur. Phys. J. B 38, 261-268 (2004)
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

Abstract

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.