The metapopulation concept provides a very powerful tool for analysing
the persistence of spatially-disaggregated populations, in terms of a
balance between local extinction and colonization. Exactly the same a
pproach has been developed by epidemiologists, in order to understand
patterns of diseases persistence. There is great scope for further cro
ss-fertilization between these areas. Recent work on the spatiotempora
l dynamics of measles illustrates that the large datasets and rich mod
elling literature on many infectious diseases offer great potential fo
r developing and testing ideas about metapopulations.