[Taxacom] metapopulations in biogeography and ecology

[John Grehan]

If one has not read the papers directly it is possible that one could get
the impression that the metapopulation model for biogeography is confined
to panbiogeography. But in the New Caledonia paper Heads points out some
examples of its acceptance in various biogeographic studies. For example,
the distribution of a clade of empidid flies on New Zealand, Lord Howe
Island, and New Caledonia (all on continental crust that rifted from
Gondwana in the late Cretaceous) and Vanuatu (part of the island arc that
rifted from Gondwana in the late Cretaceous) are is explained by Plant
(2011) as a “a relictual Gondwanan element that has survived Oligocene
drowning as metapopulations persisting *in situ *on ephemeral islands along
arcs, ridges and buoyant crustal blocks...” Similarly, Beaver & Liu (2016)
believe that New Caledonian elements of ambrosia beetles “ *. . . *may have
survived as metapopulations on ephemeral islands over tens of millions of
years *. . *.”.  And Pearlson & Pavliček (2017) rejected long-distance
dispersal (and speciation) in favor of short-distance dispersal allows
long-term survival as metapopulations for earthworms.


So there are examples out there of biogeographic approaches that apply
panbiogeographic concepts and principles, or generate approaches that are
compatible with or supported by panbiogeographic approaches. Metapopulation
may well represent a bridging concept that is equally applicable in
biogeography as it is in ecology. Which is to be expected since the two
domains work in concert (since earth and life evolve together), and
metapopulation models do not generate a whole lot of (sometimes
explicit) mysteries,
anomalies, contradictions etc.


John Grehan

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