Spatial Autocorrelation, Dispersal and the Maintenance of Source-Sink Populations

Populations may be regulated by both local density dependent factors and spatial variation in habitat quality I explore the in uence of spatial autocor relation in habitat quality on the survival of model populations Dispersal is modeled as Markov tran sitions between patches A nite rate of population increase was assigned to each patch Total habitat area and mean dispersal distance had strong e ects on overall population persistence The e ect of spa tial autocorrelation was relatively weak but inter acted with dispersal distance The results suggest that landscape pattern can play an important role in population survival but its importance depends crucially on dispersal behavior