RT Journal Article
T1 Dispersal-induced resilience to stochastic environmental fluctuations in populations with Allee effect
A1 Crespo-Miguel, Rodrigo
A1 Jarillo, Javier
A1 Cao García, Francisco Javier
AB Many species are unsustainable at small population densities (Allee effect); i.e., below the so-called Allee threshold, the population decreases instead of growing. In a closed local population, environmental fluctuations always lead to extinction. Here, we show how, in spatially extended habitats, dispersal can lead to a sustainable population in a region, provided the amplitude of environmental fluctuations is below an extinction threshold. We have identified two types of sustainable populations: high-density and low-density populations (through a mean-field approximation, valid in the limit of large dispersal length). Our results show that patches where population is high, low, or extinct coexist when the population is close to global extinction (even for homogeneous habitats). The extinction threshold is maximum for characteristic dispersal distances much larger than the spatial scale of synchrony of environmental fluctuations. The extinction threshold increases proportionally to the square root of the dispersal rate and decreases with the Allee threshold. The low-population-density solution can allow understanding of difficulties in recovery after harvesting. This theoretical framework provides a unique approach to address other factors, such as habitat fragmentation or harvesting, impacting population resilience to environmental fluctuations.
PB American Physical Society
SN 2470-0045
YR 2022
FD 2022-01-24
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/104477
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/104477
LA eng
NO Crespo-Miguel, R., Jarillo, J., & Cao-García, F. J. (2022). Dispersal-induced resilience to stochastic environmental fluctuations in populations with Allee effect. Physical Review E, 105(1), 014413.
NO European Union
NO European Economic Area (EEA) under the NILS-Science and Sustainability Programme
NO SUSTAIN of the Research Council of Norway
NO Research Council of Norway
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO European Union Marie Curie Actions
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO Banco Santander
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025