2025/06/04 by Yiwen Xu, J. Angus Webb, William D. Bovill +1 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Plant and animal studies #Species Distribution and Climate Change
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/1438-390x.12217
openalex publication_date 2025/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract Habitat patches may be distributed across landscapes and connected by dispersal pathways, creating habitat networks. The complexity of habitat networks can vary, depending on how the dispersal pathways connect patches (network topology). Theory predicts that changes in network topology will affect population outcomes (network carrying capacity, population distribution, and temporal stability), but few empirical studies have been done. We conducted laboratory experiments to explore the effect of habitat network topology on population outcomes of a model species. Experiments were done with Daphnia carinata in artificial habitat networks of six topologies with varying network complexity, including three network types (linear, dendritic, and lattice). Network‐scale carrying capacity had a positive correlation with network complexity, but the effect was marginally non‐significant. Spatial distribution of Daphnia among nodes was not significantly different among network types or topologies. Within lattice networks, the centrality of habitat nodes was significantly correlated with temporal variability in the size of node‐scale populations, with this effect not seen in less complex networks. The observation that temporal variations in node‐scale population sizes differs among positions within a network is new. Empirical research under more field‐realistic conditions would be useful for testing the generality of this result. However, this finding is consistent with theory and field observations that suggest that central patches support more stable populations and should be of higher priority for conservation.