Population synchrony in small-world networks.
Network topography ranges from regular graphs (linkage between nearest neighbours only) via small-world graphs (some random connections between nodes) to completely random graphs. Small-world linkage is seen as a revolutionary architecture for a wide range of social, physical and biological networks, and has been shown to increase synchrony between oscillating subunits. We study small-world topographies in a novel context: dispersal linkage between spatially structured populations across a range of population models. Regular dispersal between population patches interacting with density-dependent renewal provides one ecological explanation for the large-scale synchrony seen in the temporal fluctuations of many species, for example, lynx populations in North America, voles in Fennoscandia and grouse in the UK. Introducing a small-world dispersal kernel leads to a clear reduction in synchrony with both increasing dispersal rate and small-world dispersal probability across a variety of biological scenarios. Synchrony is also reduced when populations are affected by globally correlated noise. We discuss ecological implications of small-world dispersal in the frame of spatial synchrony in population fluctuations.
Integrative Ecology Unit, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Esa
E
Ranta
Mike S
MS
Fowler
Veijo
V
Kaitala
D003198:Computer Simulation; D003710:Demography; D017753:Ecosystem; D005843:Geography; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011157:Population Dynamics