The CorridorGame

The CorridorGame is a simple (5 parameters) metapopulation model, estimating the flow of individuals through a corridor-zone (or any landscape) consisting of two or more patches in a homogeneous landscape matrix. The current version shows how patches belong to a network, and provides an indication of metapopulation persistence per network. Using default settings, it assumes equilibrium conditions when calculating e.g. patch incidences and network persistence. The findings can be corroborated directly by dynamic simulation. The model is comparable to Hanski's incidence function model; however, it is much more explicit (and realistic) in the connectivity part. It relates the probability of reaching a patch to a species-specific pattern of movement and takes into account the geometry of the patches and patch-configuration (where Hanski 1994 applied a measure based solely on distance).

Do-It-Yourself corridor design

The model is designed to be used interactively. The user may manipulate the spatial configuration, and combine any spatial configuration with all of the defined species. The results are made visual 'in the landscape' by coloring networks (persistence), patches (incidence) and flows (connectivity). Tabulated outputs can be further processed in spreadsheets. The visual results as well as the landscape configuration can be stored as raster or vector images (eps).

The model can be run from this website (go to Corridor Game) using a Squeak browser-plugin that has to be present on the client system. For all common operating systems the plugin is available from http://www.squeakland.org