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1.
Christina A. Buelow Ronald Baker April E. Reside Marcus Sheaves 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(3):547-561
Context
Complex structural connectivity patterns can influence the distribution of animals in coastal landscapes, particularly those with relatively large home ranges, such as birds. To understand the nuanced nature of coastal forest avifauna, where there may be considerable overlap in assemblages of adjacent forest types, the concerted influence of regional landscape context and vegetative structural connectivity at multiple spatial scales warrants investigation.Objectives
This study determined whether species compositions of coastal forest bird assemblages differ with regional landscape context or with forest type, and if this is influenced by structural connectivity patterns measured at multiple spatial scales.Methods
Three replicate bird surveys were conducted in four coastal forest types at ten survey locations across two regional landscape contexts in northeast Australia. Structural connectivity patterns of 11 vegetation types were quantified at 3, 6, and 12 km spatial scales surrounding each survey location, and differences in bird species composition were evaluated using multivariate ordination analysis.Results
Bird assemblages differed between regional landscape contexts and most coastal forest types, although Melaleuca woodland bird assemblages were similar to those of eucalypt woodlands and rainforests. Structural connectivity was primarily correlated with differences in bird species composition between regional landscape contexts, and correlation depended on vegetation type and spatial scale.Conclusions
Spatial scale, landscape context, and structural connectivity have a combined influence on bird species composition. This suggests that effective management of coastal landscapes requires a holistic strategy that considers the size, shape, and configuration of all vegetative components at multiple spatial scales.2.
Context
Urbanization has altered many landscapes around the world and created novel contexts and interactions, such as the rural–urban interface.Objectives
We sought to address how a forest patch’s location in the rural–urban interface influences which avian species choose to occur within the patch. We predicted a negative relationship between forest bird richness and urbanization surrounding the patch, but that it would be ameliorated by the area of tree cover in the patch and matrix, and that total tree-cover area would be more influential on forest bird species richness than area of tree cover in the focal patch alone.Methods
We conducted bird surveys in 44 forest patches over 2 years in Southeast Michigan and evaluated bird presence and richness relative to patch and matrix tree cover and development density.Results
We observed 43 species, comprised of 21 Neotropical migrants, 19 residents, and three short-distance migrants. Focal-patch tree-cover area and the matrix tree-cover area were the predominant contributors to a site’s overall forest-bird species richness at the rural–urban interface, but the addition of percent of over-story vegetation and percentage of deciduous tree cover influenced the ability of the patches to support forest species, especially Neotropical migrants. Development intensity in the matrix was unrelated to species richness and only had an effect in four species models.Conclusions
Although small forest patches remain an important conservation strategy in developed environments, the influence of matrix tree cover suggests that landscape design decisions in surrounding matrix can contribute conservation value at the rural–urban interface.3.
Chevonne Reynolds Robert J. FletcherJr. Celine M. Carneiro Nicole Jennings Alison Ke Michael C. LaScaleia Mbhekeni B. Lukhele Mnqobi L. Mamba Muzi D. Sibiya James D. Austin Cebisile N. Magagula Themba’alilahlwa Mahlaba Ara Monadjem Samantha M. Wisely Robert A. McCleery 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(2):241-255
Context
The landscape heterogeneity hypothesis states that increased heterogeneity in agricultural landscapes will promote biodiversity. However, this hypothesis does not detail which components of landscape heterogeneity (compositional or configurational) most affect biodiversity and how these compare to the effects of surrounding agricultural land-use.Objectives
Our objectives were to: (1) assess the influence of the components of structural landscape heterogeneity on taxonomic diversity; and (2) compare the effects of landscape heterogeneity to those of different types of agricultural land-use in the same landscape across different taxonomic groups.Methods
We identified a priori independent gradients of compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity within an agricultural mosaic of north-eastern Swaziland. We tested how bird, dung beetle, ant and meso-carnivore richness and diversity responded to compositional and configurational heterogeneity and agricultural land-use across five different spatial scales.Results
Compositional heterogeneity best explained species richness in each taxonomic group. Bird and ant richness were both positively correlated with compositional heterogeneity, whilst dung beetle richness was negatively correlated. Commercial agriculture positively influenced bird species richness and ant diversity, but had a negative influence on dung beetle richness. There was no effect of either component of heterogeneity on the combined taxonomic diversity or richness at any spatial scale.Conclusions
Our results suggest that increasing landscape compositional heterogeneity and limiting the negative effects of intensive commercial agriculture will foster diversity across a greater number of taxonomic groups in agricultural mosaics. This will require the implementation of different strategies across landscapes to balance the contrasting influences of compositional heterogeneity and land-use. Strategies that couple large patches of core habitat across broader scales with landscape structural heterogeneity at finer scales could best benefit biodiversity.4.
Context
Growing evidence suggests that climate change could substantially alter forest disturbances. Interactions between individual disturbance agents are a major component of disturbance regimes, yet how interactions contribute to their climate sensitivity remains largely unknown.Objectives
Here, our aim was to assess the climate sensitivity of disturbance interactions, focusing on wind and bark beetle disturbances.Methods
We developed a process-based model of bark beetle disturbance, integrated into the dynamic forest landscape model iLand (already including a detailed model of wind disturbance). We evaluated the integrated model against observations from three wind events and a subsequent bark beetle outbreak, affecting 530.2 ha (3.8 %) of a mountain forest landscape in Austria between 2007 and 2014. Subsequently, we conducted a factorial experiment determining the effect of changes in climate variables on the area disturbed by wind and bark beetles separately and in combination.Results
iLand was well able to reproduce observations with regard to area, temporal sequence, and spatial pattern of disturbance. The observed disturbance dynamics was strongly driven by interactions, with 64.3 % of the area disturbed attributed to interaction effects. A +4 °C warming increased the disturbed area by +264.7 % and the area-weighted mean patch size by +1794.3 %. Interactions were found to have a ten times higher sensitivity to temperature changes than main effects, considerably amplifying the climate sensitivity of the disturbance regime.Conclusions
Disturbance interactions are a key component of the forest disturbance regime. Neglecting interaction effects can lead to a substantial underestimation of the climate change sensitivity of disturbance regimes.5.
Julie Betbeder Marianne Laslier Laurence Hubert-Moy Françoise Burel Jacques Baudry 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(9):1867-1879
Context
The ability to detect ecological networks in landscapes is of utmost importance for managing biodiversity and planning corridors.Objectives
The objective of this study was to evaluate the information provided by a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image for landscape connectivity modeling compared to aerial photographs (APs).Methods
We present a novel method that integrates habitat suitability derived from remote sensing imagery into a connectivity model to explain species abundance. More precisely, we compared how two resistance maps constructed using landscape and/or local metrics derived from AP or SAR imagery yield different connectivity values (based on graph theory), considering hedgerow networks and forest carabid beetle species as a model.Results
We found that resistance maps using landscape and local metrics derived from SAR imagery improve landscape connectivity measures. The SAR model is the most informative, explaining 58% of the variance in forest carabid beetle abundance. This model calculates resistance values associated with homogeneous patches within hedgerows according to their suitability (canopy cover density and landscape grain) for the model species.Conclusions
Our approach combines two important methods in landscape ecology: the construction of resistance maps and the use of buffers around sampling points to determine the importance of landscape factors. This study was carried out through an interdisciplinary approach involving remote sensing scientists and landscape ecologists. This study is a step forward in developing landscape metrics from satellites to monitor biodiversity.6.
Context
The effects of agricultural intensification on service-providing communities remain poorly studied in perennial cropping systems. However, such systems differ greatly from annual cropping systems in terms of spatio-temporal dynamics and levels of disturbance. Identifying how land use changes at different scales affect communities and ecosystem services in those habitats is of major importance.Objectives
Our objectives were to examine the effects of local and landscape agricultural intensification on ground beetle community structure and weed seed predation services.Methods
We examined the effects of local vegetation management and landscape context on ground beetle community structure and weed seed predation in 20 vineyards of southwestern France in 2013 and 2014. Vineyards were selected along a landscape complexity gradient and experienced different management of local vegetation.Results
The activity-density of ground beetles decreased with increasing landscape complexity while species richness and evenness remained unchanged. Phytophagous and macropterous species dominated ground beetle communities. Seed predation was positively related to the activity-density of one species, Harpalus dimidiatus, and was not affected by local management or landscape context. We found that within-year temporal diversity in ground beetle assemblages increased with landscape complexity.Conclusions
Our study shows that increasing the proportion of semi-natural habitats in vineyard landscapes enhances the temporal diversity of ground beetles. However, we also found that measures targeting specific species delivering biological control services are a reasonable strategy if we are to maximize natural pest control services such as weed seed regulation to support crop production and reduce agrochemical use.7.
Ricardo Rocha Milou Groenenberg Paulo E. D. Bobrowiec Mar Cabeza Jorge M. Palmeirim Christoph F. J. Meyer 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(1):31-45
Context
Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are widespread drivers of biodiversity decline. Understanding how habitat quality interacts with landscape context, and how they jointly affect species in human-modified landscapes, is of great importance for informing conservation and management.Objectives
We used a whole-ecosystem manipulation experiment in the Brazilian Amazon to investigate the relative roles of local and landscape attributes in affecting bat assemblages at an interior-edge-matrix disturbance gradient.Methods
We surveyed bats in 39 sites, comprising continuous forest (CF), fragments, forest edges and intervening secondary regrowth. For each site, we assessed vegetation structure (local-scale variable) and, for five focal scales, quantified habitat amount and four landscape configuration metrics.Results
Smaller fragments, edges and regrowth sites had fewer species and higher levels of dominance than CF. Regardless of the landscape scale analysed, species richness and evenness were mostly related to the amount of forest cover. Vegetation structure and configurational metrics were important predictors of abundance, whereby the magnitude and direction of response to configurational metrics were scale-dependent. Responses were ensemble-specific with local-scale vegetation structure being more important for frugivorous than for gleaning animalivorous bats.Conclusions
Our study indicates that scale-sensitive measures of landscape structure are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of fragmentation on tropical biota. Although forest fragments and regrowth habitats can be of conservation significance for tropical bats our results further emphasize that primary forest is of irreplaceable value, underlining that their conservation can only be achieved by the preservation of large expanses of pristine habitat.8.
Jessica L. Neumann Geoffrey H. Griffiths Christopher W. Foster Graham J. Holloway 《Landscape Ecology》2016,31(8):1833-1848
Context
Landscape heterogeneity (the composition and configuration of different landcover types) plays a key role in shaping woodland bird assemblages in wooded-agricultural mosaics. Understanding how species respond to landscape factors could contribute to preventing further decline of woodland bird populations.Objective
To investigate how woodland birds with different species traits respond to landscape heterogeneity, and to identify whether specific landcover types are important for maintaining diverse populations in wooded-agricultural environments.Methods
Birds were sampled from woodlands in 58 2 × 2 km tetrads across southern Britain. Landscape heterogeneity was quantified for each tetrad. Bird assemblage response was determined using redundancy analysis combined with variation partitioning and response trait analyses.Results
For woodland bird assemblages, the independent explanatory importance of landscape composition and landscape configuration variables were closely interrelated. When considered simultaneously during variation partitioning, the community response was better represented by compositional variables. Different species responded to different landscape features and this could be explained by traits relating to woodland association, foraging strata and nest location. Ubiquitous, generalist species, many of which were hole-nesters or ground foragers, correlated positively with urban landcover while specialists of broadleaved woodland avoided landscapes containing urban areas. Species typical of coniferous woodland correlated with large conifer plantations.Conclusions
At the 2 × 2 km scale, there was evidence that the availability of resources provided by proximate landcover types was highly important for shaping woodland bird assemblages. Further research to disentangle the effects of composition and configuration at different spatial scales is advocated.9.
Rachel A. Loehman Robert E. Keane Lisa M. Holsinger Zhiwei Wu 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(7):1447-1459
Context
Interactions among disturbances, climate, and vegetation influence landscape patterns and ecosystem processes. Climate changes, exotic invasions, beetle outbreaks, altered fire regimes, and human activities may interact to produce landscapes that appear and function beyond historical analogs.Objectives
We used the mechanistic ecosystem-fire process model FireBGCv2 to model interactions of wildland fire, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), and white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) under current and future climates, across three diverse study areas.Methods
We assessed changes in tree basal area as a measure of landscape response over a 300-year simulation period for the Crown of the Continent in north-central Montana, East Fork of the Bitterroot River in western Montana, and Yellowstone Central Plateau in western Wyoming, USA.Results
Interacting disturbances reduced overall basal area via increased tree mortality of host species. Wildfire decreased basal area more than beetles or rust, and disturbance interactions modeled under future climate significantly altered landscape basal area as compared with no-disturbance and current climate scenarios. Responses varied among landscapes depending on species composition, sensitivity to fire, and pathogen and beetle suitability and susceptibility.Conclusions
Understanding disturbance interactions is critical for managing landscapes because forest responses to wildfires, pathogens, and beetle attacks may offset or exacerbate climate influences, with consequences for wildlife, carbon, and biodiversity.10.
Context
A recent hypothesis, the habitat amount hypothesis, predicts that the total amount of habitat in the landscape can replace habitat patch size and isolation in studies of species richness in fragmented landscapes.Objectives
To test the habitat amount hypothesis by first evaluating at which spatial scale the relationship between species richness in equal-sized sample quadrats and habitat amount was the strongest, and then test the importance of spatial configuration of habitat—measured as local patch size and isolation—when habitat amount was taken into account.Methods
A quasi-experimental setup with 20 habitat patches of dry calcareous grasslands varying in patch size, patch isolation and habitat amount at the landscape scale was established in the inner Oslo fjord, Southern Norway. We recorded species richness of habitat specialists of vascular plants in equal-sized sample quadrats and analysed the relationship between species richness, habitat amount in the landscape and patch size and isolation.Results
Although the total amount of habitat in a 3 km-radius around the local patch was positively related to species richness in the sample quadrats, local patch size had an additional positive effect, and the effect of patch size was higher when the amount of habitat within the 3 km-radius was high than when it was low.Conclusions
In our study system of specialist vascular plants in dry calcareous grasslands, we do not find support for the habitat amount hypothesis.11.
Riana Gardiner Glen Bain Rowena Hamer Menna E. Jones Christopher N. Johnson 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(11):1837-1849
Context
The classical theory of island biogeography explains loss of species in fragmented landscapes as an effect of remnant patch size and isolation. Recently this has been challenged by the habitat amount and habitat continuum hypotheses, according to which persistence in modified landscapes is related to total habitat amount rather than habitat configuration or the ability of species to use all habitats to varying degrees. Distinguishing between these theories is essential for effective conservation planning in modified landscapes.Objective
Identify which factors of habitat type, amount and configuration predict the persistence of a keystone woodland specialist, the eastern bettong Bettongia gaimardi, in a fragmented landscape.Method
In the Midlands region of Tasmania we carried out camera surveys at 62 sites in summer and winter. We included habitat and landscape features to model whether habitat amount or patch size and isolation influenced the presence of the eastern bettong, and to measure effects of habitat quality.Results
Habitat amount within a 1 km buffer was a better predictor of occupancy than patch size and isolation. Occupancy was also affected by habitat quality, indicated by density of regenerating stems.Conclusion
Our results support the habitat amount hypothesis as a better predictor of presence. For a species that is able to cross the matrix between remnant patches and utilise multiple patches, the island biogeography concept does not explain habitat use in fragmented landscapes. Our results emphasize the value of small remnant patches for conservation of the eastern bettong, provided those patches are in good condition.12.
Context
Amphibians are declining worldwide and land use change to agriculture is recognized as a leading cause. Argentina is undergoing an agriculturalization process with rapid changes in landscape structure.Objectives
We evaluated anuran response to landscape composition and configuration in two landscapes of east-central Argentina with different degrees of agriculturalization. We identified sensitive species and evaluated landscape influence on communities and individual species at two spatial scales.Methods
We compared anuran richness, frequency of occurrence, and activity between landscapes using call surveys data from 120 sampling points from 2007 to 2009. We evaluated anuran responses to landscape structure variables estimated within 250 and 500-m radius buffers using canonical correspondence analysis and multimodel inference from a set of candidate models.Results
Anuran richness was lower in the landscape with greater level of agriculturalization with reduced amount of forest cover and stream length. This pattern was driven by the lower occurrence and calling activity of seven out of the sixteen recorded species. Four species responded positively to the amount of forest cover and stream habitat. Three species responded positively to forest cohesion and negatively to rural housing. Two responded negatively to crop area and diversity of cover classes.Conclusions
Anurans within agricultural landscapes of east-central Argentina are responding to landscape structure. Responses varied depending on species and study scale. Life-history traits contribute to responses differences. Our study offers a better understanding of landscape effects on anurans and can be used for land management in other areas experiencing a similar agriculturalization process.13.
Andrew G. Merschel Emily K. Heyerdahl Thomas A. Spies Rachel A. Loehman 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(7):1195-1209
Context
In the interior Northwest, debate over restoring mixed-conifer forests after a century of fire exclusion is hampered by poor understanding of the pattern and causes of spatial variation in historical fire regimes.Objectives
To identify the roles of topography, landscape structure, and forest type in driving spatial variation in historical fire regimes in mixed-conifer forests of central Oregon.Methods
We used tree rings to reconstruct multicentury fire and forest histories at 105 plots over 10,393 ha. We classified fire regimes into four types and assessed whether they varied with topography, the location of fuel-limited pumice basins that inhibit fire spread, and an updated classification of forest type.Results
We identified four fire-regime types and six forest types. Although surface fires were frequent and often extensive, severe fires were rare in all four types. Fire regimes varied with some aspects of topography (elevation), but not others (slope or aspect) and with the distribution of pumice basins. Fire regimes did not strictly co-vary with mixed-conifer forest types.Conclusions
Our work reveals the persistent influence of landscape structure on spatial variation in historical fire regimes and can help inform discussions about appropriate restoration of fire-excluded forests in the interior Northwest. Where the goal is to restore historical fire regimes at landscape scales, managers may want to consider the influence of topoedaphic and vegetation patch types that could affect fire spread and ignition frequency.14.
Context
According to the trophic-rank hypothesis, species may be differentially affected by habitat isolation due to their trophic position in the food chain, i.e. high-order trophic levels may be more negatively affected than low-order levels.Objectives
The aim of this paper is to study how species richness, abundance and composition of saproxylic beetle communities are affected by patch (=tree) quality and small-scale patch connectivity. Following the trophic-rank hypothesis, we expected predators to be more negatively affected by patch isolation than wood-feeding beetles.Methods
We studied the beetle community, patch connectivity and patch quality on 28 large oaks. Different connectivity measures were calculated using 50 m-buffers around trees and using distances to the five nearest trees.Results
Beetle species richness increased with the diameter of oaks, i.e. patch quality. No evidence of the trophic-rank hypothesis was found for species richness patterns. In accordance with the trophic-rank hypothesis, abundance of predatory beetles increased with patch connectivity but lower trophic levels were unaffected or even decreased with patch connectivity.Conclusions
The structure of invertebrate communities on trees changes with small-scale patch connectivity due to a differential response of low-order and high-order trophic levels. Isolated trees are more exposed to the sun than the more connected trees, which may affect the beetles; however, it was impossible to distinguish the microclimatic from the spatial effects. Although scattered trees generally have a higher conservation value than trees in forests, we conclude that forest trees may be more important for certain trophic levels.15.
Context
Habitat destruction is the leading threat to terrestrial biodiversity, isolating remnant habitat in a matrix of modified vegetation.Objectives
Our goal was to determine how species richness in several broad taxonomic groups from remnant forest was influenced by matrix quality, which we characterized by comparing plant biomass in forest and the surrounding matrix.Methods
We coupled data on species-area relationships (SARs) in forest remnants from 45 previously published studies with an index of matrix quality calculated using new estimates of plant biomass derived from satellite imagery.Results
The effect size of SARs was greatest in landscapes with low matrix quality and little forest cover. SARs were generally stronger for volant than for non-volant species. For the terrestrial taxa included in our analysis, matrix quality decreased as the proportion of water, ice, or urbanization in a landscape increased.Conclusions
We clearly demonstrate that matrix quality plays a major role in determining patterns of species richness in remnant forest. A key implication of our work is that activities that increase matrix quality, such as active and passive habitat restoration, may be important conservation measure for maintaining and restoring biodiversity in modified landscapes.16.
Context
Seagrass landscapes vary substantially in extent and pattern, resulting from depth zonation and hydrodynamic stress gradients and may exhibit threshold behavior in response to changes in physical drivers. Seagrass landscapes persist in a delicate balance between processes of disturbance and recovery and therefore may exhibit behavior typical of classic critical systems.Objectives
Examine how hydrodynamic drivers and physical setting influence seagrass landscape composition and configuration. Determine if seagrass patch size distributions typify patterns observed for critical systems.Methods
We used landscape metrics to quantify the spatial configuration of seagrass and then modeled the response of these metrics to wave energy, tidal current speed, and water depth at 62 estuarine sites in North Carolina, USA. Seagrass landscapes were representative of cover types observed in the estuary generated by wave energy.Results
Percent cover, patch size, and number of patches all declined with increasing wave energy. Threshold behavior occurred at wave energy change points between 675–774 J m?1. Seagrass landscapes differed in spatial configuration and physical setting, above and below change points. There was moderate support for a power law relationship for patch size distribution across a wide range of seagrass landscape cover and wave energy.Conclusions
With weather extremes on the rise, much of this estuarine seagrass will be exposed to increased wave energy. Where seagrass exists just below the wave energy change points, increases in wave energy could tip those habitats into a new stable state of lower cover resulting in less cover overall in the estuary.17.
Stephen R. Shifley Hong S. He Heike Lischke Wen J. Wang Wenchi Jin Eric J. Gustafson Jonathan R. Thompson Frank R. ThompsonIII William D. Dijak Jian Yang 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(7):1307-1325
Context
Quantitative models of forest dynamics have followed a progression toward methods with increased detail, complexity, and spatial extent.Objectives
We highlight milestones in the development of forest dynamics models and identify future research and application opportunities.Methods
We reviewed milestones in the evolution of forest dynamics models from the 1930s to the present with emphasis on forest growth and yield models and forest landscape models We combined past trends with emerging issues to identify future needs.Results
Historically, capacity to model forest dynamics at tree, stand, and landscape scales was constrained by available data for model calibration and validation; computing capacity; model applicability to real-world problems; and ability to integrate biological, social, and economic drivers of change. As computing and data resources improved, a new class of spatially explicit forest landscape models emerged.Conclusions
We are at a point of great opportunity in development and application of forest dynamics models. Past limitations in computing capacity and in data suitable for model calibration or evaluation are becoming less restrictive. Forest landscape models, in particular, are ready to transition to a central role supporting forest management, planning, and policy decisions.Recommendations
Transitioning forest landscape models to a central role in applied decision making will require greater attention to evaluating performance; building application support staffs; expanding the included drivers of change, and incorporating metrics for social and economic inputs and outputs.18.
Thomas Ibanez Vanessa Hequet Céline Chambrey Tanguy Jaffré Philippe Birnbaum 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(8):1671-1687
Context
The biodiversity hotspot for conservation of New Caledonia has facing high levels of forest fragmentation. Remnant forests are critical for biodiversity conservation and can help in understanding how does forest fragmentation affect tree communities.Objective
Determine the effect of habitat configuration and availability on tree communities.Methods
We mapped forest in a 60 km2 landscape and sampled 93 tree communities in 52 forest fragments following stratified random sampling. At each sampling point, we inventoried all trees with a diameter at breast height ≥10 cm within a radius of 10 m. We then analysed the response of the composition, the structure and the richness of tree communities to the fragment size and isolation, distance from the edge, as well as the topographical position.Results
Our results showed that the distance from the forest edge was the variable that explained the greatest observed variance in tree assemblages. We observed a decrease in the abundance and richness of animal-dispersed trees as well as a decrease in the abundance of large trees with increasing proximity to forest edges. Near forest edges we found a shift in species composition with a dominance of stress-tolerant pioneer species.Conclusions
Edge-effects are likely to be the main processes that affect remnant forest tree communities after about a century of forest fragmentation. It results in retrogressive successions at the edges leading to a dominance of stress-tolerant species. The vegetation surrounding fragments should be protected to promote the long process of forest extension and subsequently reduce edge-effects.19.
Jessica L. Neumann Geoffrey H. Griffiths Andrew Hoodless Graham J. Holloway 《Landscape Ecology》2016,31(2):301-315
Context
Landscape heterogeneity (the composition and configuration of matrix habitats) plays a major role in shaping species communities in wooded-agricultural landscapes. However, few studies consider the influence of different types of semi-natural and linear habitats in the matrix, despite their known ecological value for biodiversity.Objective
To investigate the importance of the composition and configuration of matrix habitats for woodland carabid communities and identify whether specific landscape features can help to maintain long-term populations in wooded-agricultural environments.Methods
Carabids were sampled from woodlands in 36 tetrads of 4 km2 across southern Britain. Landscape heterogeneity including an innovative representation of linear habitats was quantified for each tetrad. Carabid community response was analysed using ordination methods combined with variation partitioning and additional response trait analyses.Results
Woodland carabid community response was trait-specific and better explained by simultaneously considering the composition and configuration of matrix habitats. Semi-natural and linear features provided significant refuge habitat and functional connectivity. Mature hedgerows were essential for slow-dispersing carabids in fragmented landscapes. Species commonly associated with heathland were correlated with inland water and woodland patches despite widespread heathland conversion to agricultural land, suggesting that species may persist for some decades when elements representative of the original habitat are retained following landscape modification.Conclusions
Semi-natural and linear habitats have high biodiversity value. Landowners should identify features that can provide additional resources or functional connectivity for species relative to other habitat types in the landscape matrix. Agri-environment options should consider landscape heterogeneity to identify the most efficacious changes for biodiversity.20.