treml-localconnectionsandthe-2021.pdf (44.74 MB)
Local connections and the larval competency strongly influence marine metapopulation persistence
The relationship between metapopulation stability and connectivity has long been investigated in ecology, however, most of these studies are focussed on theoretical species and habitat networks, having limited ability to capture the complexity of real‐world metapopulations. Network analysis became more important in modelling connectivity, but it is still uncertain which networks metrics are reliable predictors of persistence. Here we quantify the impact of connectivity and larval life history on marine metapopulation persistence across the complex seascape of southeast Australia. Our work coupled network‐based approaches and eigenanalysis to efficiently estimate metapopulation‐wide persistence and the subpopulation contributions. Larval dispersal models were used to quantify species‐specific metapopulation connectivity for five important fisheries species, each summarised as a migration matrix. Eigenanalysis helped to reveal metapopulation persistence and determine the importance of node‐level network properties. Across metapopulations, the number of local outgoing connections was found to have the largest impact on metapopulation persistence, implying these hub subpopulations may be the most influential in real‐world metapopulations. Results also suggest the length of the pre‐competency period may be the most influential parameter on metapopulation persistence. Finally, we identified two major hotspots of local connectivity in southeast Australia, each contributing strongly to multi‐species persistence. Managers and ecologists would benefit by employing similar approaches in making more efficient and more ecologically informed decisions and focusing more on local connectivity patterns and larval competency characteristics to better understand and protect real‐world metapopulation persistence. Practically this could mean developing more marine protected areas at shorter distances and supporting collaborative research into the early life histories of the species of interest.
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Journal
Ecological ApplicationsIssue
Accepted, unedited articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of record will appear in the future.Article number
e2302Publisher
John Wiley & SonsLocation
Hoboken, N.J.Publisher DOI
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1051-0761eISSN
1939-5582Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2021, Ecological Society of AmericaUsage metrics
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