INSULAR BIOGEOGRAPHIC THEORY AND DIFFUSION-MODELS IN POPULATION-DYNAMICS

We examine a class of mathematical models describing the effects of ha bitat size and geometry on community structure. We deduce spatial effe cts at the community level from mechanistic models for the population dynamics and dispersal of individual populations together with some mi nimal hypotheses about the distribution of growth and dispersal rates among those populations. We use the models to deduce species-area curv es, and in that sense they provide an alternative to the dynamic equil ibrium theory of island biogeography introduced by MacArthur and Wilso n. Since the models can explicitly incorporate various hypotheses abou t population dynamics and the nature and strength of interactions betw een species they permit a detailed analysis of how these hypotheses sh ould affect community structure. We illustrate that point by contrasti ng the implications of different hypotheses in the context of refuge d esign. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.