BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Insular Biogeography, Metapopulation, Patch Dynamics

• School: UTSG
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIO120H1
• Professor: Stephen Wright

Document Summary

So far, we"ve ignored immigration and emigration: real populations are not closed systems, individuals can move from one population to another; they can disperse, dispersal allows organisms to, colonize new areas, escape competition, avoid inbreeding depression. Many taxa have evolved traits that aid in dispersal: sweet, eshy fruit is an adaptation that attracts animal seed dispersers, other seeds are dispersed by wind or water. Dispersal is important for colonization of new habitats: postglacial colonization depends on plant and animal dispersal, most of canada was under ice ~12,000 years ago, range shifts in response to climate change, islands, etc. Metapopulations: populations of populations : dispersal connects populations, a metapopulation is a collection of spatially distinct populations that are connected via dispersal, we call each spatially distinct population a patch. Imagine an oceanic island: some prey colonize empty island, prey quickly grow toward carrying capacity, predators drive prey to extinction, some predators arrive and reproduce rapidly, predators starve, island is empty.