MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES FOR POPULATIONS OF THE EURASIAN BADGER (MELES MELES) IN A FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE.

(I) In the modern agricultural landscape habitat patches for badgers are distributed like fragments in large suboptimal areas. In this paper the badger population in the Netherlands is considered as a metapopulation. A stochastic model is presented lot a single badger clan. Subsequently the model is extended to simulate a metapopulation consisting of badger clans that are connected through dispersal, while taking account of the present biological information. (2) The models are used to address the perspectives of management measures for badgers in the Netherlands. The results show that the viability at a single badger clan as especially sensitive to changes in adult mortality. (3) For a metapopulation of clans a similar result is obtained. In addition, the number of territories and the rate of dispersal between the clans are major factors that influence the viability of the metapopulation. (4) Management measures aimed at improving conditions for badgers should be directed at reducing the adult mortality and restoring or maintaining a large number of potential territories for clans while providing ample opportunity for dispersal between the clans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]