Reducing species extinction by connecting fragmented habitats: Insights from the contact process

Motivated by recent findings of enhanced species survival when fragmented habitats are reconnected through narrow strips of land (Pimm and Jenkins, 2019), we study the effect of a corridor connecting two regions on the lifetime of three models exhibiting extinction/survival phase transitions: the basic contact process (CP), the diffusive contact process, and the two-species contact process (2SCP) using Monte Carlo simulations. For the basic contact process we also present semianalytic solutions on complete graphs. We find that connecting two regions increases the lifetime when the reproduction rate is greater than its critical value. The lifetime enhancement increases with the reproduction rate; for square regions, wide and short corridors provide the best enhancement. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Motivated by recent findings on the enhanced species survival through connecting fragmented habitats, this study investigates the effect of a corridor connecting two regions on the lifetime of three models exhibiting extinction/survival phase transitions. The results show that connecting two regions increases the lifetime, with the enhancement effect being greater at higher reproduction rates.