Metapopulations

==Metapopulation==

To understand the concept of a metapopulation, start by thinking of a **population**. A population consists of a group of individuals in the same species that mate with one another to produce viable offspring. A metapopulation combines multiple local populations that are distributed over two or more segments of habitat called patches. When the patches are accessible to the local populations, they are capable of migrating between them. A metapopulation consists of shifting local populations that intermingle, sustaining gene flow by migrating between the habitat patches.

This concept is utilized by conservationists to create a viable population dispersed amongst linked patches of habitat. If they weren't linked by corridors, these fragments might shrink to a size that is too small to sustain a viable population. However, as a part of a linked network, a metapopulation can help a population of finite size to survive with miminal risk of inbreeding or loss of genetic variation, which are risks for small populations.

Form population surveys over many years, biologists have learned that the Puritan tiger beetle population is dispersed between many sub populations, which suggests that the metapopulation is the appropriate unit of study for this species.

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