Habitat fragmentation: the possibility of a patch disrupting its neighbor

Abstract

This paper starts from the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskunov equation to model diffusive populations. The main result, according to this model, is that two connected patches in a system do not always contribute to each other. Specifically, inserting a large fragment next to a small one is always positive for life inside the small patch, while inserting a very small patch next to a large one can be negative for life inside the large fragment. This result, obtained to homogeneously fragmented regions, is possible from the general case expression for the minimum sizes in a system of two patches. This expression by itself is an interesting result, because it allows the study of other characteristics not included in the present work.