Travelling wave dynamics and self-organization in a spatio-temporally structured population

We analyse spatial population dynamics showing that periodic or period-like chaotic dynamics produce self-organization structures, such as travelling waves. We suggest that self-organized patterns are associated with spatial synchrony patterns that often depend on geographical distance between subpo pulations. The population dynamics also show statistical spatial autocorrel ation patterns. We contrast our theoretical simulations with empirical data on annual damages in young sapling stands caused by voles. We conclude, an the basis of the periodicity, synchrony, and spatial autocorrelation patte rns, and our simulation results, that vole dynamics represent travelling wa ves in population dynamics. We suggest that because such synchrony patterns are frequently observed in natural populations, spatial self-organization may be more common in population dynamics than reported in the literature.