Trade-offs between local and regional scale management of metapopulations

A model analysis of the extinction of metapopulations is presented, based on a general model which explicitly considers essential population dynamical factors, such as environmental fluctuations and dispersal of individuals. The model is used to evaluate the influences of three plausible management options on the viability of a metapopulation. These are the increase of the capacity and the number of patches and the improvement of their connectivity. We find that the effects of these management options depend on the specific environmental conditions, such as environmental variability and the patch capacities. We generate a set of scenarios which cover a wine range of different environmental situations. For each scenario the influences of the management options are evaluated. The results are used to compare local management of subpopulations with the establishment of a habitat network. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.