Citation
Some Demographic and Genetic Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity for Biological Control
TL;DR
Introduced metapopulation concept
The original paper introducing the metapopulation concept. Developed the extinction-colonization model where equilibrium patch occupancy equals 1 - e/c. This framework explains how populations persist through gene flow despite local extinctions.
For organizations, metapopulation thinking enables designing structures with different migration rates for different units: core business (low migration), exploratory units (high migration), acquired companies (phased integration).
Key Findings from Levins (1969)
- Introduced metapopulation concept
- Equilibrium occupancy = 1 - extinction rate / colonization rate
- Local populations can go extinct while metapopulation persists
- Gene flow enables recolonization of empty patches