title: Local extinction of dragonfly and damselfly populations in low- and high-quality habitat patches.
abstract: Understanding the risk of extinction of a single population is an important problem in both theoretical and applied ecology. Local extinction risk depends on several factors, including population size, demographic or environmental stochasticity, natural catastrophe, or the loss of genetic diversity. The probability of local extinction may also be higher in low-quality sink habitats than in high-quality source habitats. We tested this hypothesis by comparing local extinction rates of 15 species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) between 1930-1975 and 1995-2003 in central Finland. Local extinction rates were higher in low-quality than in high-quality habitats. Nevertheless, for the three most common species there were no differences in extinction rates between low- and high-quality habitats. Our results suggest that a good understanding of habitat quality is crucial for the conservation of species in heterogeneous landscapes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. juksuh@utu.fi
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suhonen
authors.forename: Milla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hilli-Lukkarinen
authors.forename: Esa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Korkeamäki
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuitunen
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kullas
authors.forename: Jouni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Penttinen
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salmela
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005387:Finland; D007313:Insecta / Q000254:growth & development*; D011156:Population Density; D012307:Risk Factors