Extinction Debt at Extinction Threshold

Abstract: To allow for long‐term metapopulation persistence, a network of habitat fragments must satisfy a certain condition in terms of number, size, and spatial configuration of the fragments. The influence of landscape structure on the threshold condition can be measured by a quantity called metapopulation capacity, which can be calculated for real fragmented landscapes. Habitat loss and fragmentation reduce the metapopulation capacity of a landscape and make it less likely that the threshold condition can be met. If the condition is not met, the metapopulation is expected to go extinct, but it takes some time following habitat loss before the extinction will occur, which generates an extinction debt in a…