Strohm S, Tyson R
University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, Canada.
Bull Math Biol. 2009 Aug;71(6):1323-48. doi: 10.1007/s11538-009-9403-0. Epub 2009 Apr 8.
Through four spatially explicit models, we investigate how habitat fragmentation affects cyclic predator-prey population dynamics. We use a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) framework to describe the dispersal of predators and prey in a heterogeneous landscape made of high quality and low quality habitat patches, subject to increasing fragmentation through habitat separation and/or habitat loss. Our results show that habitat fragmentation decreases the amplitude of the predator-prey population cycles while average population density is not as strongly affected in general. Beyond these simple trends however, the four models show differing responses to fragmentation, indicating that when making predictions about population survival and persistence in the face of habitat fragmentation, the choice of model is important. Our results may inform conservation efforts in fragmented habitats for cyclic species such as the snowshoe hare and Canada lynx.
通过四个空间明确的模型,我们研究了栖息地破碎化如何影响周期性捕食者 - 猎物种群动态。我们使用偏微分方程(PDE)框架来描述捕食者和猎物在由高质量和低质量栖息地斑块组成的异质景观中的扩散,这种景观会因栖息地分离和/或栖息地丧失而面临日益增加的破碎化。我们的结果表明,栖息地破碎化会降低捕食者 - 猎物种群周期的振幅,而总体而言平均种群密度受影响程度没那么大。然而,除了这些简单趋势外,这四个模型对破碎化表现出不同的响应,这表明在预测面对栖息地破碎化时种群的生存和持久性时,模型的选择很重要。我们的结果可能为诸如雪兔和加拿大猞猁等周期性物种在破碎化栖息地的保护工作提供参考。