Metapopulation models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Metapopulation models - Essay Example It was first safeguarded in 1990, almost a century since the logging in their habitation began. The northern spotted owl acts like a fundament, a†core species†, a barometer for other forest dependent animals. Doak (1989) created another metapopulation method for the Northern spotted owl in which he managed to identify species from clustered territories. Yet, the model did not hold exact dimensional design and the two most important characteristics of spatial structure were missing. Doak (1989) believed that the survival and reproduction possibilities among the owls were independent both among their own population and within them. Such presumption of independent population forces could result in underestimation of the dangers of population drop. Doak (1989) also presumed that the dispersion rate between all populations was also equivalent. A very similar method was applied to populations for the Northern spotted owl by Thomas et al. (1990) in the territoy-clusted model and by Noon and McKelvey (1992) for California spotted owl. The natural unevenness of owl populations in the wild, combined with the unpredictability of population factors, turn probabilistic risk analysis with the use of stochastic devices into an irreplaceable tool for estimating the growth of animal population (Shaffer 1990; Ginzburg et al. 1990; Akcakaya 1992). The most important outcomes from Lande (1987) and Lamberson et al. (in press) are that the decay of satisfactory habitat together with the constantly deteriorating landscape with suitable environmental conditions for sustainable population growth will eventually lead to the extinction of these animals. In addition, unproven links between searching and finding mates leads us to believe that species can be somehow limited to a mating choice even if a suitable habitat is in presence. New evidence comes from a model of Lamberson et al (in press), where he shows a non-equilibrium nature of