Spatially Correlated Dynamics in a Pika Metapopulaton

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the results of a long-term study of a metapopulation that appears ideal with regard to the measurement of parameters of a metapopulation. The metapopulation is large, relative to lifetime movements of the animals. Not all patches have been occupied in any census period. Both numerous extinctions and recolonizations have been recorded over the 20 plus years of observation of the metapopulation. The study organism is the American pika (Ochotona princeps), a small (132 g) alpine lagomorph, and the study site is the abandoned gold-mining area of Bodie, Mono County, California. A spatially explicit model is introduced that successfully integrates patch-specific population growth with these size and distance effects for the Bodie pika metapopulation. The results of the study suggest need for metapopulation models to incorporate explicit spatial dimensions and to examine a range of spatial and temporal scales in their analyses.