ABSTRACT
Ever since G. F. Gause’s pioneering studies, it has been clear to biologists that real biological predator prey systems in simple environments are highly unstable. The importance of spatial heterogeneity as a stabilizing factor was emphasized by C. B. Huffaker’s experimental work with mites and the natural system of the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, and its host, the prickly pear, Opuntia Sp. This chapter reviews some models appropriate for studying the dynamics of interacting species occurring in an environment consisting of a large number of discrete, identical, patches. The state of a patch will be determined only by which species are present and how long they have been present in that particular patch. Population levels will be ignored–this is equivalent to assuming that changes in population levels take place on a faster time scale than the other processes being modelled.
