Population Ecology
Metapopulation
A population of populations—a set of local populations in separate habitat patches connected by occasional dispersal. The metapopulation persists through a balance of local extinctions and recolonizations.
Biological Context
Individual patches may go extinct, but dispersers from other patches can recolonize them. Metapopulation dynamics explain how species persist in fragmented landscapes. Conservation often focuses on maintaining connectivity between habitat patches to allow recolonization.
Business Application
Business metapopulations: distributed offices, franchises, or product lines where individual units may fail but the overall enterprise persists through successful units and the ability to restart failed ones.