 When can dispersal synchronize populations?Eli E. Goldwyn and Alan Hastings Theoretical Population Biology, 2008, vol. 73, issue 3, 395-402 Abstract: While spatial synchrony of oscillating populations has been observed in many ecological systems, the causes of this phenomenon are still not well understood. The most common explanations have been the Moran effect (synchronous external stochastic influences) and the effect of dispersal among populations. Since ecological systems are typically subject to large spatially varying perturbations which destroy synchrony, a plausible mechanism explaining synchrony must produce rapid convergence to synchrony. We analyze the dynamics through time of the synchronizing effects of dispersal and, consequently, determine whether dispersal can be the mechanism which produces synchrony. Specifically, using methods new to ecology, we analyze a two patch predator–prey model, with identical weak dispersal between the patches. We find that a difference in time scales (i.e. one population has dynamics occurring much faster than the other) between the predator and prey species is the most important requirement for fast convergence to synchrony. Keywords: Synchrony; Transient; Dispersal; Predator–prey dynamics; Phase response curve; Slow-fast dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:73:y:2008:i:3:p:395-402 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2007.11.012 Access Statistics for this article Theoretical Population Biology is currently edited by Jeremy Van Cleve More articles in Theoretical Population Biology from Elsevier |
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