Figure 5. Metapopulation of four nonidentical patch populations in an “all to all” network.

The reproductive number of the patches are such that R ₁>R ₂>R ₃>R ₄. Bottom left: to test for extinction, construct a hypothetical metapopulation of n-identical copies of dominating patch-1, but retaining the original “all to all” connectivity structure. If the hypothetical metapopulation has , the original metapopulation on the top will also have a stable extinction state. Bottom right: to test for persistence, construct n-identical copies of patch-4, retaining the original connectivity structure. If the hypothetical metapopulation has , the original one on the top will also persist.