Metapopulation approach, its history, conceptual domain, and application to conservation / Empirical evidence for metapopulation dynamics / Metapopulation dynamics and landscape ecology / Metapopulation dynamics : from concepts and observations to predictive models / Structured metapopulation models / Two-species metapopulation models / From metapopulation dynamics to community structure : some consequences of spatial heterogeneity / Genetic effective size of a metapopulation / Evolution of metapopulations / Extinction models for local populations / Studying transfer processes in metapopulations : emigration, migration, and colonization / Migration within metapopulations : the impact upon local population dynamics / Evolution of migration rate and other traits : the metapopulation effect / Spatial processes in host-parasite genetics / Butterfly metapopulations / Tritrophic metapopulation dynamics : a case study of ragwort, the cinnabar moth, and the parasitoid Cotesia popularis / Spatially correlated dynamics in a pika metapopulation / Case study of genetic structure in a plant metapopulation