Can you please post the following reply regarding the above issue?
Thanks, -- Yaron.
Yaron Ziv <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

----------------------------------

Dear Natalia and Patrick,

Indeed, the first (but not the simplest) 'metapopulation dynamics' 
model has been introduced by Levins (see references below; 1-3), 
where metapopulation means a population of populations maintained by 
between patch-balanced colonization-extinction rates (see two 
important books; 4, 5).  In his original model, Levins assumes total 
colonization (or, immigration) rate to be frequency-dependent while 
total extinction rate to be frequency-independent.  In a following 
model (the core-satellite), Hanski added frequency-dependence to the 
total extinction rate term (6).  His frequency-dependence term relies 
on Brown and Kodrick-Brown's 'rescue-effect' concept (7) where 
extinction rate is reduced by increased fraction of occupied 
patches.  (Note, however, that in their original paper, Brown and 
Kodrick-Brown relates to 'island biogeography' and show that total 
species extinction rate is also affected by the distance of the 
island to the mainland.  In other words, the origination of the 
'rescue effect' concept has to do with species-oriented issues and 
not with a single population demographic issues, such as source-sink 
dynamics.)  I highly recommend Gotelli's papers on the four basic 
(conservative, according to Harrison; see below) models of 
'metapopulation dynamics' (8, 9).
As far as I know, the source-sink concept has been used for quite 
some time by ecosystem ecologists in terms of material transfer and 
directionality flux of resources.  However, demographically, the 
source-sink terms have been coined by Pulliam (10, 11) to express 
fitness-related values (i.e., r > 0 is source; r < 0 is 
sink).  (Note, however, that his original paper has to do with the 
optimal foraging theory and not with the later uses of these 
terms.)  It is important to mention that a similar hypothesis was 
formulated earlier by Shmida and Ellner (the 'mass effect'; 12, but 
see also 13) to express the idea of constant, frequent dispersal of 
plant material (i.e., seeds) from one habitat to another that is not 
suitable for those plant species.  In other words, those non-adapted 
plant species in the unsuitable habitat (i.e., with negative 
population growth values; later coined sinks) keep persisting in that 
habitat because of the continuous addition of propagules from the 
original habitat's populations (later coined sources).

The "marriage" between metapopulation dynamics and source-sink 
dynamics comes from Harrison's papers (14, 15), where she reviews 
whether or not a "real" metapopulation dynamics exist and broadens 
the term 'metapopulation structure' to include different types, such 
as conservative, mainland-island/source-sink, non-equilibrium, 
patchy, and combined.


1.  Levins, R. 1969a. Some demographic and genetic consequences of 
environmental heterogeneity for biological control. Bulletin of the 
Entomological Society of America 15:237-240.
2.  Levins, R. 1969b. The effect of random variations of different 
types on population growth. Proceedings of the National Academy of 
Sciences U.S.A. 62:1061-1065.
3.  Levins, R. 1970. Extinction. In: Some Mathematical problems in 
Biology. G. Gesternhaber (ed.). Providence, American Mathematical 
Society, pp. 77-107.
4.  Hanski, I., and Gilpin, M. E. (eds.). 1997. Metapopulation 
Biology: Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution. San Diego, Academic Press.
5.  Hanski, I. 1999. Metapopulation Ecology. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
6.  Hanski, I. 1982. Dynamics of regional distribution: the core and 
satellite species hypothesis. Oikos 38:210-221.
7.  Brown, J. H. and A. Kodric-Brown. 1977. Turnover rates in insular 
biogeography: effect of immigration on extinction. Ecology 58:445-449.
8.  Gotelli, N. J. 1991. Metapopulation models: the rescue effect, 
the propagule rain, and the core-satellite hypothesis. American 
Naturalist 138:768-776.
9.  Gotelli, N. J. and W. G. Kelley. 1993. A general model of 
metapopulation dynamics. Oikos 68:36-44.
10.  Pulliam, H. R. 1988. Sources, sinks, and population regulation. 
American Naturalist 132:652-661.
11.  Pulliam, H. R. and B. J. Danielson. 1991. Sources, sinks, and 
habitat selection: a landscape perspective on population dynamics. 
American Naturalist 137S:S50-S66.
12.  Shmida, A. and S. Ellner. 1984. Coexistence of plant species 
with similar niches. Vegetatio 58:29-55.
13.  Slatkin, M. 1974. Competition and regional coexistence. Ecology 
55:128-134.
14.  Harrison, S. 1991. Local extinction in metapopulation context: 
an empirical evaluation. In: Metapopulation Dynamics: Empirical and 
Theoretical Investigations. M. Gilpin and I. Hanski (eds.). San 
Diego, Academic Press Inc., pp. 73-88.
15.  Harrison, S. and A. D. Taylor. 1997. Empirical evidence for 
metapopulation dynamics. In: Metapopulation Biology: Ecology, 
Genetics, and Evolution. I. Hanski and M. E. Gilpin (eds.).  San 
Diego, Academic Press, pp. 27-42.


Hope this helps clarifying the relationship between the different concepts,

-- Yaron.

--------------------------------
Yaron Ziv (PhD)
The Spatial Ecology Lab
Department of Life Sciences
Ben-Gurion University
Ber-Sheva 84105, ISRAEL


On 18 May 2007, at 00:15, patfoley wrote:

>Natalia,
>
>You may want to look at Ilkka Hanski's 1998 Book Metapopulation Ecology.
>
>In short, the source-sink concept was formulated by Brown and
...snip...
>>explain in many text books. I would like to know if anyone has a clear idea
>>about this subject.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Natalia

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