A few hints about the ecological problem and the Incidence Function Model (IMF)

Prof. Ilkka Hanski (University of Helsinki)

Twenty years after the seminal paper of Ilkka Hanski A practical model of metapopulation dynamics (Hanski, 1994), introducing the Incidence Function Model (IFM) as a spatially explicit stochastic model for metapopulation dynamics, the statement about the lack of analytical models of metapopulation dynamics able to incorporate specific information about patch locations and hence able to generate predictions about specific metapopulations still holds true. Despite some criticism (Baguette 2004), this makes the Incidence Function Model and its extensions noteworthy for ecological applications. The web site of the Metapopulation Research Group of Helsinki (http://www.helsinki.fi/science/metapop/index.htm) provides a wide panorama of a relevant part of recent researches on “the biology of species inhabiting fragmented landscape”, aiming also at applying “the core concepts of metapopulation biology to management and conservation of landscapes and biodiversity”.