Stability of patch-turnover relationships under equilibrium and nonequilibrium metapopulation dynamics driven by biogeography.

ABSTRACT: Two controversial tenets of metapopulation biology are whether patch quality and the surrounding matrix are more important to turnover (colonisation and extinction) than biogeography (patch area and isolation) and whether factors governing turnover during equilibrium also dominate nonequilibrium dynamics. We tested both tenets using 18 years of surveys for two secretive wetland birds, black and Virginia rails, during (1) a period of equilibrium with stable occupancy and (2) after drought and arrival of West Nile Virus (WNV), which resulted in WNV infections in rails, increased extinction and decreased colonisation probabilities modified by WNV, nonequilibrium dynamics for both species and occupancy decline for black rails. Area (primarily) and isolation (secondarily) drove turnover during

SUBMITTER: Beissinger SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9828715 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature