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Ecology: From genes to metapopulations

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0130 (2017) Cite this article

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A tribute to Ilkka Hanski. Empirical data modelling shows that molecular variation at a candidate gene within populations has consequences for metapopulation size and persistence.

Metapopulation theory1,2 aims to predict if and how a species will either cope with the threats that follow habitat destruction and fragmentation, or will become extinct. Predictions such as these are difficult to make as dispersal between patches of fragmented habitat is under strong evolutionary pressure from factors such as landscape structure and configuration. In a recent study in Nature Communications3, the late Ilkka Hanski and his colleagues of the Metapopulation Research Centre (University of Helsinki, Finland) provide empirical evidence that allelic variation in a gene associated with dispersal correlates with population colonization and extinction turnover within metapopulations.

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Figure 1: Conceptual changes in metapopulation biology under the impulsion of Ilkka Hanski and some associated empirical insights.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the French National Research Agency (ANR) programmes open call INDHET (ANR-12 -BSV7-0023-02) and young researcher GEMS (ANR-13-JSV7-0010-01). The authors are part of the ‘Laboratoire d’Excellence’ (LABEX) entitled TULIP (ANR-10-LABX-41).

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  1. Michel Baguette, Radika Michniewicz and Virginie M. Stevens are at the Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS, UMR 5321 CNRS-UPS, F-09200 Moulis, France.,

    Michel Baguette, Radika Michniewicz & Virginie M. Stevens

  2. Michel Baguette is also at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (COMUE Sorbonne Universités), UMR 7205, F-75005 Paris, France.,

    Michel Baguette

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  1. Michel Baguette
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  2. Radika Michniewicz
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  3. Virginie M. Stevens
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Correspondence to Michel Baguette.

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Baguette, M., Michniewicz, R. & Stevens, V. Ecology: From genes to metapopulations. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0130 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0130

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