A scrutiny of the Levins metapopulation model

The Levins metapopulation model describes the dynamics of several populations in patches of suitable habitat. These populations may go extinct, leaving empty patches of suitable habitat, but these empty patches may be recolonized by other populations via dispersal. The metapopulation can therefore persist if recolonizations balance local extinctions. This simple model has been criticized for its alleged simplicity, and it has been frequently extended to incorporate more realism. This article scrutinizes the assumptions of the Levins model to reveal its true simplicity. It turns out that many assumptions may be considerably weakened without affecting the model.

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