How can maladaptive habitat choice generate source‐sink population dynamics?

Several theoretical models have been proposed to describe population dynamics in a spatially heterogeneous environment. The source‐sink model is among the most popular. Diffendorfer recently summarized its assumptions and predictions. Given the model reviewed, he argued that source‐sink population dynamics arises if dispersal is somehow constrained. I offer an additional mechanism by suggesting that source‐sink population dynamics can be generated by anthropogenic changes in landscapes that occur so quickly that organisms no longer make optimal habitat selection decisions. Individuals select the same habitats as their ancestors but these decisions no longer provide high fitness because of human‐induced changes in habitat quality, such as increased rates of predation and/or parasitism. Provided that some of the habitats selected are turned by human‐induced changes into sink habitats, source‐sink population dynamics can emerge.