Speaker
Description
Multiple populations that are connected by migration create a metapopulation. This study looks at how the fixation probability of a mutant is affected by different migration patterns in various metapopulation structures composed of 4 demes, each having identical carrying capacities. We look at all possible 4-node network structures, where each node is a deme and each link represents migration. We come up with a modified Moran Birth-death process which allows for (at least) partial compensation of change in deme size due to migration. This allows us to analytically explore both symmetric and asymmetric migration in the limit where migration is rare compared to the modified Moran Birth-death process, by adapting the Markov chain method to calculate sojourn times used in Hindersin et al (2014), for metapopulations. We verify the circulation theorem in metapopulations using this method. That is, all metapopulation networks behave the same for symmetric migration. We then compare asymmetric migration towards (and against) more connected demes and its consequences for a mutant in differently structured metapopulations.