1. Island biogeographical model. In the island biogeographical model [22], the emphasis is on a single patch type; disjunct patches are viewed as analogous to oceanic islands embedded in an inhospitable or ecologically neutral background (matrix). The emphasis is on the extent, spatial character, and distribution of the focal patch type without explicitly considering the role of the matrix. The major advantage of the island model is its simplicity; it is easy to represent the structure of the landscape in terms of focal patches contrasted sharply against a uniform matrix. The
major disadvantage of this model is that it assumes a uniform and neutral matrix, which in most realworld cases is a drastic oversimplification of how organisms interact with landscape patterns.