Which factor does NOT affect metapopulation persistence?
The keyed exception is “Genetic drift.” In the context of which factor does not affect metapopulation persistence, that statement differs from the governing ecological pattern and must be evaluated against the mechanism rather than accepted from wording alone. Mechanistic support comes from showing how resource limitation, enemies, mate availability, or physiological stress changes demographic performance. A descriptive association alone does not establish regulation or causation. The remaining alternatives—“Number of patches”, “Size of patches”, “Connectivity among patches”—refer to different
Ref: Campbell Biology, Urry et al., 12th Ed., Unit 8 Ecology
