RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Dispersal between interconnected patches can reduce the total population size
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.04.28.489935
DO 10.1101/2022.04.28.489935
A1 Irina Vortkamp
A1 Christian Kost
A1 Marita Hermann
A1 Frank M. Hilker
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/30/2022.04.28.489935.abstract
AB Human activities increasingly result in a fragmentation of natural ecosystems. However, the ecological consequences of fragmentation remain poorly understood. While some studies report that fragmentation may enhance population growth, others suggest the opposite pattern. Here we investigated how habitat connectivity affects the population size of a single species when habitat patches differ in quality. We combined dispersal experiments, in which bacterial populations of Escherichia coli were repeatedly transferred between two qualitatively different environments, with a process-based mathematical model. Both experiments and model consistently revealed that increased dispersal between patches reduced the total population size, thus demonstrating a detrimental effect of habitat connectivity on population size. This observation could be explained with a net loss of individuals upon migration from a productive to an overcrowded patch. Our findings suggest that conservation measures, which promote movement between fragmented habitats, such as dispersal corridors or stepping stones, are potentially detrimental for some species.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.