Rescue effect

The rescue effect is a phenomenon which was first described by Brown and Kodric-Brown,[1] and is commonly used in metapopulation dynamics and many other disciplines in ecology. This populational process explains how the migration of individuals can increase the persistence of small isolated populations by helping to stabilize a metapopulation, thus reducing the chances of extinction.[2][3] In other words, immigration can lead to the recolonization of previously extinct patches, promoting the long-term persistence of the network of populations.[3]

  1. ^ Brown JH, Kodric-Brown A. 1977 Turnover rates in insular biogeography: effect of immigration on extinction. Ecology 58, 445– 449. (doi:10.2307/ 1935620)
  2. ^ Richards, C. M. (2000). Inbreeding depression and genetic rescue in a plant metapopulation. American Naturalist, 155, 383– 394.
  3. ^ a b Eriksson A, Elı´as-Wolff F, Mehlig B, Manica A. 2014 The emergence of the rescue effect from explicit within- and between-patch dynamics in a metapopulation. Proc. R. Soc. B 281: 20133127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3127