Over the past several decades, the role of space in population dynamics and trends has been illuminated, and spatially structured population dynamics have been emphasized in conservation and management strategies. We use the term spatially structured population as a broad umbrella term for a population that includes some amount of spatial heterogeneity. This term captures many spatially-focused concepts in population biology. Our general goal is to provide an overview of the role of space on populations, with an eye toward conservation-relevant issues. To do so, we first discuss some common frameworks for understanding and conserving spatially structured populations, including the metapopulation paradigm that focuses on colonization–extinction dynamics and the spatial demography (or landscape demography) paradigm that focuses on demographic vital rates. Both of these paradigms have provided major insights to ecology and conservation, including the concept of source–sink dynamics, spatial synchrony, metapopulation capacity, and how the roles of immigration and emigration can vary with spatial scale. We then illustrate some of these concepts with data on spatio-temporal variation in abundance and colonization–extinction dynamics in the wind-dispersed orchid, Lepanthes rupestris, in Puerto Rico. This example provides insight into understanding spatial synchrony in populations, and shows how factors driving occupancy can be similar to those driving colonization–extinction dynamics. We end by outlining other common approaches to understanding spatially structured populations and their viability for conservation.