Temporal and spatial variation in survival rates of a house sparrow, Passer domesticus, metapopulation

In a metapopulation of house sparrows. consisting of island populations off the coast of northern Norway, annual variation in adult and juvenile survi val rates was estimated using capture-recapture methods. Annual adult survi val rate did nut differ between sexes. but varied significantly between isl ands, whereas annual juvenile survival rate varied significantly between ye ars. Fur both adult and juvenile survival rates the study revealed a signif icant interaction term between island and years, meaning that the differenc e in survival rates among islands differed between years. This interaction in both juvenile and adult survival rates indicates that the temporal varia tion may occur in an uncorrelated manner even within a relatively restricte d geographical region such as our study area.