(
2010-09-08)
Goldberg, Emma E.; Lynch, Heather J.; Neubert, Michael G.; Fagan, William F.
The dendritic structure of a river network creates directional dispersal and a hierarchical
arrangement of habitats. These two features have important consequences for the
ecological dynamics of species living within the network.We apply matrix population models to a stage-structured population in a network of habitat patches connected in a dendritic
arrangement. By considering a range of life histories and dispersal patterns, both constant
in time and seasonal, we illustrate how spatial structure, directional dispersal, survival, and
reproduction interact to determine population growth rate and distribution. We investigate
the sensitivity of the asymptotic growth rate to the demographic parameters of the model,
the system size, and the connections between the patches. Although some general patterns
emerge, we find that a species’ mode of reproduction and dispersal are quite important in its
response to changes in its life history parameters or in the spatial structure. The framework
we use here can be customized to incorporate a wide range of demographic and dispersal
scenarios.
