  We study a variant of Hanski's incidence function model that allows habitat
patch characteristics to vary over time following a Markov process. The widely
studied case where patches are classified as either suitable or unsuitable is
included as a special case. For large metapopulations, we determine a recursion
for the probability that a given habitat patch is occupied. This recursion
enables us to clarify the role of landscape dynamics in the survival of a
metapopulation. In particular, we show that landscape dynamics affects the
persistence and equilibrium level of the metapopulation primarily through its
effect on the distribution of a local population's life span.
