Extinction and isolation gradients in metapopulations: the case of the pool frog (Rana lessonae)

Abstract

Loral extinction along the intrinsic isolation gradient within metapopulations is reviewed with particular reference to a study of the pool frog (Rana lessonaé) on the northern periphery of its geographical range. As in the pool frog, many other different tax a show significantly increased extinction probabilities with increased interpopulation distance. Present data imply that the relative impact of demographic and genetic factors in such stochastic extinctions depends on the genetic history of the metapopulation; data also imply that populations fluctuate more greatly in size than predicted from demographic models which have been commonly referred to. By mitigating such fluctuations and inbreeding, and compensating for emigration, immigration undoubtedly ‘rescues’ local populations from extinction. In this way, and not just in terms of recolonization, connectivity is concluded to be a key to metapopulation persistence. Implications for conservation are also presented.