共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 406 毫秒
1.
Context
Freshwater ecosystems depend on surrounding terrestrial landscape for resources. Most important are terrestrial leaf litter subsidies, which differ depending on land use. We lack a good understanding of the variation of these inputs across spatial scales.Objectives
We sought to determine: (1) the relative importance of local versus catchment-level forestation for benthic leaf litter biomass in streams, (2) how landscape configuration alters these relationships, and (3) how land use affects the quality and diversity of leaf litter subsidies.Methods
We measured biomass and identity of benthic leaf litter in 121 reaches in 10 independent catchments seasonally over the course of a year. We assessed direct and indirect effects of forestation, reach position, and seasonality on leaf litter biomass using structural equation models, and assessed how leaf litter diversity varied with land use.Results
In catchments with forested headwaters, the degree of forestation and reach position in the catchment influenced benthic leaf litter biomass indirectly through local reach-scale forestation. In catchments where forest was only located downstream, or with minimal forest, none of these factors influenced reach-level benthic leaf litter. Leaf litter diversity peaked in fall in all land use types, but was generally lowest in forested reaches.Conclusions
Not only habitat amount, but its location relative to other habitats is important for ecosystem function in the context of cross-ecosystem material flows. Here, lack of upstream forest altered spatial patterns of leaf litter storage. Studies with high spatiotemporal resolution may further reveal effects of landscape configuration on other ecosystems.2.
Andrew J. King Brett A. Melbourne Kendi F. Davies A. O. Nicholls Mike P. Austin Kika T. Tuff Maldwyn J. Evans Chris M. Hardy Saul A. Cunningham 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(4):609-623
Context
Although forest fragmentation is generally thought to impact tree growth and mortality negatively, recent work suggests some forests are resilient. Experimental forests provide an opportunity to examine the timing and extent of forest tree resilience to disturbance from fragmentation.Objectives
We used the Wog Wog Habitat Fragmentation Experiment in southeastern Australia to test Eucalyptus growth and survivorship responses to forest fragmentation over a 26 year period.Methods
We measured 2418 tree diameters and used spline-regression techniques to examine non-monotonic fragmentation effect over two time periods.Results
Over the first 4 years after fragmentation, individual eucalypt tree growth was greater than in continuous forest for large trees and mortality rates were higher only within 10 m of edges. Over the following 22 years only the effects on tree growth remained and on average all fragments rebounded so that their biomass and mortality rates were equivalent to continuous forest. Importantly non-monotonic patterns were observed in growth and mortality with respect to area and distance from edge in both study periods, demonstrating that fragmentation impacts on trees can be strong in localized areas (greatest in 3 ha fragments and 0–30 m edges) and over short time periods.Conclusions
Dry-sclerophyll eucalypt forests join the set of forest types that display resilient growth dynamics post fragmentation. Moreover, persistent non-monotonic impacts on tree growth with respect to tree size, fragment area, and fragment distance from edge, highlighting landscape fragmentation as a driver of habitat heterogeneity within remnant forest fragments.3.
Context
Ecological theory suggests that large habitat fragments should harbour more species than small fragments. However, this may depend on the surrounding matrix. Matrices in fragmented landscapes may either amplify or reduce area effects, which could influence predicted extinctions based on species-area relationships (SARs).Objective
To determine the influence of matrix type on SARs.Methods
We surveyed birds within 59 coastal forest fragments in two matrix types, anthropogenic (South Africa) and natural (Mozambique). We classified species as forest specialists or habitat generalists and fitted species-area models to compare how SAR slopes differed among matrix types. We also calculated nestedness and evenness to determine if these varied among matrix type and used logistic regressions to identify species-specific responses to matrix type.Results
For habitat generalists, SARs were weak within both matrices, while for forest specialists it was strong in the anthropogenic but weak in the natural matrix. In the former, the SAR was similar to those recorded for real islands within archipelagos. Forest specialist assemblages were nested by area within anthropogenic, but not natural matrices. Matrix type did not influence evenness. Area only affected the occurrence of one species when the matrix was natural, compared to 11 species when it was anthropogenic.Conclusions
Forest specialist bird species conformed to island biogeographic predictions of species loss in forest fragments embedded in anthropogenic, but not natural matrices. Extinctions from small forest fragments might be prevented by conserving natural- or restoring anthropogenic matrices, as well as by increasing forest area.4.
Context
The study of habitat fragmentation is complex because multiple, potentially synergistic, ecological processes may be acting simultaneously. Further, edge effects themselves may be complex in that additivity from multiple edges can give rise to heterogeneous nearest–edge gradients.Objectives
We used heat diffusion as a proxy for additive edge effects in two study landscapes in order to test whether two key observations recently attributed to synergy between edge and area effects could be more simply explained by additivity; namely, steeper edge gradients in larger fragments and variation in slopes of species–area relationships as a function of distances to fragment edges.Methods
We sampled forest structure in northwestern Madagascar at various distances from the edge in fragments and continuous forest and used an inverse modelling approach to parameterize the model. In addition, we applied the model to data from a published study of beetle communities in fragmented forests in New Zealand.Results
With increasing proximity to edges, woody stem densities decreased and, as predicted, smaller fragments had lower stem densities and less steep edge gradients than larger ones. The model successfully predicted shifts in species–area relationships as a function of nearest–edge distances for beetle species, although observed richness for forest specialists in the smallest fragments was lower than predicted.Conclusions
Two key observations attributed to synergy between edge and area effects were explained by edge additivity. The model is particularly useful in that it can help to disentangle the complex sets of processes acting in fragmented landscapes.5.
Context
Tropical forest regeneration is increasingly prominent as agro-pastoral lands are abandoned. Regeneration is characterised as favouring ‘marginal’ lands; however, observations of its drivers are often coarse or simple, leaving doubt as to spatial dynamics and causation.Objectives
We quantified the spatial dynamics of forest regeneration relative to marginality and remnant forest cover in a 3000 km2 pastoral region in northern tropical Australia.Methods
Classification and regression trees related the extent and distribution of regeneration to soil agricultural potential, land-cover history, terrain slope, distance to primary forest, and primary forest fragment size, as defined by aerial photography.Results
Secondary forest extent and distribution overwhelmingly reflect the proximity and size of primary forest fragments. Some 85 % of secondary forest area occurs <1 km of primary forest, and 86 % of secondary forest patches >50 ha are <400 m from primary forest and coincident with historic primary forest fragments. Where primary forest fragments are >8.5 ha, secondary forest area declines less rapidly with increasing distance from primary forest up to 1.5 km. Marginality inferred by soil potential and slope had no bearing on regeneration, except at the coarsest of spatial scales where regeneration is a proxy for primary forest cover.Conclusion
Findings underline the need to conserve even modest rainforest patches as propagule reservoirs enabling regeneration. Marginality per se may have a limited role in regeneration. As most secondary forest was an extension of primary forest, its unique conservation value relative to that of primary forest may likewise merit reconsideration.6.
Pallieter De Smedt Lander Baeten Willem Proesmans Matty P. Berg Jörg Brunet Sara A. O. Cousins Guillaume Decocq Marc Deconchat Martin Diekmann Emilie Gallet-Moron Brice Giffard Jaan Liira Ludmilla Martin Astra Ooms Alicia Valdés Monika Wulf Martin Hermy Dries Bonte Kris Verheyen 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(3):407-421
Purpose
Most of the agricultural landscape in Europe, and elsewhere, consists of mosaics with scattered fragments of semi-natural habitat like small forest fragments. Mutual interactions between forest fragments and agricultural areas influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, a process strongly mediated by the macrodetritivore community, which is however, poorly studied. We investigated macrodetritivore distribution patterns at local and landscape-level and used a key functional trait (desiccation resistance) to gain mechanistic insights of the putative drivers.Methods
Macrodetritivores were sampled in forest edges-centres of 224 European forest fragments across 14 landscapes opposing in land use intensity. We used a multilevel analysis of variance to assess the relative contribution of different spatial scales in explaining activity-density and Shannon-diversity of woodlice and millipedes, together with a model-based analysis of the multivariate activity-density data testing the effect on species composition. Secondly, we tested if desiccation resistance of macrodetritivores varied across communities at different spatial scales using linear mixed effect models.Results
Forest edge-centre and landscape use intensity determined activity-density and community composition of macrodetritivores in forest fragments, while fragment characteristics like size and continuity were relatively unimportant. Forest edges and higher intensity landscapes supported higher activity-density of macrodetritivores and determined species composition. Forest edges sustained woodlouse communities dominated by more drought tolerant species.Conclusions
Landscape use intensity and forest edges are main drivers in macrodetritivore distribution in forest fragments with desiccation resistance a good predictor of macrodetritivore distribution. Key functional traits can help us to predict changes in community structure in changing landscapes.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.
Juan Luis H. Cardós Isabel Martínez Victoria Calvo Gregorio Aragón 《Landscape Ecology》2016,31(9):1975-1995
Context
Mediterranean forests have been fragmented intensively over time, thereby yielding small and isolated forest remnants. They host a rich variety of epiphytes, which may be affected by landscape structure. Previous studies have analyzed the influence of habitat quality on these epiphytic communities, but there is little knowledge of the effects of other fragment features.Objectives
We evaluated the impacts of forest loss and fragmentation on epiphytic communities (lichens and bryophytes) at plot and fragment scales after controlling the variation in forest structure and management.Methods
We considered 40 fragments of dense oak forests in a human-modified landscape. We quantified their spatial attributes (size and shape), the quality of the surrounding matrix and the forest stand structure. We modeled community traits, and the presence and abundance of species at fragment and plot scales.Results
Fragment size, shape, and the quality of the surrounding matrix were key factors that affected epiphytic richness and diversity. Larger and more regularly shaped fragments hosted the richest and most diverse communities, possibly offering a larger core area and thus favoring the entry of typical forest species. A high-contrast matrix was only favorable in small fragments, probably allowing the arrival of propagules. The species-level response was highly variable.Conclusions
Landscape structure provides powerful explanations of the richness and diversity losses among epiphytes. Forest management should ensure the retention of the largest possible continuous forests. The management strategy of the matrix will depend on the conservation goal, since we observed different effects related with quality and fragment size.9.
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.10.
Tähti Pohjanmies Kyle Eyvindson María Triviño Mikko Mönkkönen 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(12):2337-2349
Context
Multi-objective management can mitigate conflicts among land-use objectives. However, the effectiveness of a multi-objective solution depends on the spatial scale at which land-use is optimized. This is because the ecological variation within the planning region influences the potential for site-specific prioritization according to the different objectives.Objectives
We optimized the allocation of forest management strategies to maximize the joint production of two conflicting objectives, timber production and carbon storage, at increasing spatial scales. We examined the impacts of the extent of the planning region on the severity of the conflict, the potential for its mitigation, and the strategies that were identified as optimal.Methods
Using forecasted data from a forest simulator, we constructed Pareto frontiers optimizing the joint provision of the objectives in production forests in Finland. Optimization was conducted within increasing hierarchical spatial scales and outcomes were compared in terms of the severity of the conflict and the solution to mitigate it.Results
The trade-offs between timber production and carbon storage appeared less severe and could be mitigated more effectively the larger the planning regions were, but the improvements became minor beyond the scale of ‘large forest holding’. The results thus indicate that this scale, approximately 100 stands or 200 ha, is large enough to effectively mitigate the conflict between timber production and carbon storage.Conclusions
Management planning over relatively small forest areas (200 ha) can mitigate ecosystem service trade-offs effectively. Thus the effective use of multi-objective optimization tools may be feasible even in small-scale forestry.11.
Slendy Rodríguez-Alarcón Nelly Rodríguez-Eraso Ivanov Pineda-Rincón René López-Camacho 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(11):1851-1864
Context
Forest fragmentation alters the composition, structure and function of ecosystems and affects ecological processes that are fundamental for the provision of ecosystem services where functional diversity is sensitive to its effects. Analyzing the functional responses of the plant community to fragmentation can provide new approaches to its conservation and management.Objectives
We analyzed whether the functional diversity of woody individuals associated with aboveground biomass (AGB) in a high Andean forest in Colombia is affected by fragmentation.Methods
Based on three fragmentation categories identified using landscape metrics, we selected ten forest fragments. Multitrait and monotrait functional diversity indexes (foliar and wood) weighted by aboveground biomass were calculated in plots of 0.1 ha in each fragment. Analysis of variance was performed, and simple linear regressions were quantified to identify the relationships between functional diversity and fragmentation.Results
The category of large fragments had a higher average AGB than did the medium and small fragments. Fragmentation had effects on the variance of some foliar and stem traits but not on functional dominance. For the multitraits indexes, the edge contrast was negatively related with functional dispersion.Conclusions
The categories analyzed have similar responses in terms of functionality associated with AGB. We highlight the importance of small fragments in the maintenance of plant functional diversity and as reservoirs of AGB. We underline that small fragments are important to consider in the development of conservation and connectivity strategies.12.
James Rodríguez-Echeverry Cristian Echeverría Carlos Oyarzún Luis Morales 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(3):439-453
Context
Land-use change impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services, which are intrinsically related. There is a serious lack of knowledge concerning on how land-use change affects this relationship at landscape level, where the greatest impacts have been reported. A proper knowledge of that relationship would provide crucial information for planning conservation strategies. The forest landscape of southern Chile, which includes Valdivian Temperate Forest, has been designated as a hotspot for biodiversity conservation. However, this landscape has been transformed by land-use change.Objective
We evaluated the impact of land-use change on the spatial patterns of the diversity of native forest habitat and the influence of these impacts on the provision of the ecosystem services water supply, erosion control, and organic matter accumulation from 1986 to 2011.Methods
The evaluation, at the landscape level, was carried out using satellite images, landscape metrics, spatially explicit models and generalized linear models. Results: We found that the area loss of native forest habitat was 12%, the number patches of native forest habitat increased more than 150% and the Shannon diversity index decreased by 0.20. The largest decrease in the provision of services was recorded for erosion control (346%), and the smallest for water supply (11%).Conclusions
The loss of provision of the ecosystem services can be explained by the interaction between the area loss, increase in the number patches and diversity loss. We recommend that the conservation planning strategies should consider the current landscape configuration, complemented with land-use planning.13.
Context
The assessment of land-use impacts on biodiversity is one of the central themes of landscape ecology and conservation biology. However, due to the complexity of biodiversity, it is impossible to obtain complete information about the diversity of all species even for small areas, necessitating the selection of individual species or assemblages thereof as species surrogate. In parts of the world where taxonomic expertise is lacking, species identification has hindered progress in biodiversity conservation, and the only practical, relatively-accurate option, is the use of taxonomic minimalism.Objective
We carried out a rapid biodiversity assessment based on three surrogates—land-use (driver-surrogate), terrestrial arthropods (species-surrogate) and morphospecies (taxonomic-surrogate)—to determine the impacts of land-use on biodiversity of the Western Region (Ghana), an area covering ~4 % of the West African biodiversity hotspot.Method
We used diversity profiles to visualize the distribution of a total of 8848 arthropod individuals over seven land-use types which define the complete heterogeneity of the landscape.Results
Here, we present both sample and asymptotic diversity profiles of arthropod morphospecies for each land-use type and the potential of each land-use type for conserving arthropods.Conclusions
We conclude that (1) the morphospecies approach is useful for detecting differences in species diversity of land-use types; (2) the concept of asymptotic diversity may not be necessary for land-use based biodiversity comparison; and (3) maximum diversity profiles are useful for determining the land-use conservation values in cases where pristine areas are not available.14.
Patrick D. Culbert Ine Dorresteijn Jacqueline Loos Murray K. Clayton Joern Fischer Tobias Kuemmerle 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(2):429-444
Context
Ecological impacts of past land use can persist for centuries. While present-day land use is relatively easy to quantify, characterizing historical land uses and their legacies on biodiversity remains challenging. Southern Transylvania in Romania is a biodiversity-rich area which has undergone major political and socio-economic changes, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to two World Wars, communist dictatorship, capitalist democracy, and EU accession—all leading to widespread land-use changes.Objectives
We investigated whether present-day community composition of birds, plants, and butterflies was associated with historical land use.Methods
We surveyed birds, plants, and butterflies at 150 sites and classified those sites as forest, arable land, or managed grassland for six epochs using historical maps from the 1870s, 1930s, and 1970s, satellite imagery from 1985 to 2000, and field visits in 2012. Sites were labelled permanent if they had the same land use at all epochs and non-permanent otherwise. We used clustering and PERMANOVA based on community similarity to test for associations between community composition and land-use history.Results
We found significant differences (p = 0.030) in bird communities between permanent and non-permanent forest sites, and permanent and non-permanent grassland sites (p = 0.051). No significant associations were found among plants or butterflies and land-use history.Conclusions
Bird communities were associated with historical land use, though plants and butterflies were not. Historical land-use change in our study area was likely not sufficiently intense to cross relevant ecological thresholds that would lead to legacy effects in present-day plant and butterfly communities.15.
Context
Forest cover change analyses have revealed net forest gain in many tropical regions. While most analyses have focused solely on forest cover, trees outside forests are vital components of landscape integrity. Quantifying regional-scale patterns of tree cover change, including non-forest trees, could benefit forest and landscape restoration (FLR) efforts.Objectives
We analyzed tree cover change in Southwestern Panama to quantify: (1) patterns of change from 1998 to 2014, (2) differences in rates of change between forest and non-forest classes, and (3) the relative importance of social-ecological predictors of tree cover change between classes.Methods
We digitized tree cover classes, including dispersed trees, live fences, riparian forest, and forest, in very high resolution images from 1998 to 2014. We then applied hurdle models to relate social-ecological predictors to the probability and amount of tree cover gain.Results
All tree cover classes increased in extent, but gains were highly variable between classes. Non-forest tree cover accounted for 21% of tree cover gains, while riparian trees constituted 31% of forest cover gains. Drivers of tree cover change varied widely between classes, with opposite impacts of some social-ecological predictors on non-forest and forest cover.Conclusions
We demonstrate that key drivers of forest cover change, including topography, road distance and historical forest cover, do not explain rates of non-forest tree cover change. Consequently, predictions from medium-resolution forest cover change analyses may not apply to finer-scale patterns of tree cover. We highlight the opportunity for FLR projects to target tree cover classes adapted to local social and ecological conditions.16.
Juan Luis H. Cardós Isabel Martínez Gregorio Aragón Christopher J. Ellis 《Landscape Ecology》2018,33(10):1757-1768
Context
The anthropocene is characterised by global landscape modification, and the structure of remnant habitats can explain different patterns of species richness. The most pervasive processes of degradation include habitat loss and fragmentation. However, a recovery of modified landscape is occurring in some areas.Objectives
The main goal is to know how lichen and bryophyte epiphytic richness growing on Mediterranean forests is influenced not only by fragments characteristics but also by the structure of the landscape. We introduce a temporal dimension in order to evaluate if the historical landscape structure is relevant for current epiphytic communities.Methods
40 well-preserved forest fragments were selected in a landscape with a large habitat loss over decades, but with a recovery of forest surface in the last 55 years. The most relevant fragment and landscape-scale attributes were considered. Some of the variables were measured in three different years to incorporate a temporal framework.Results
The results showed that variables at fragment scale had a higher influence, whereas variables at the landscape scale were irrelevant. Among all the historical variables analyzed, only the shift in forest fragment size had influence on species richness.Conclusions
Mediterranean forests had suffered fragmentation along centuries. Their epiphytic communities also suffer the hard conditions of Mediterranean climate. Our results indicate that Mediterranean epiphytic communities may be in a threshold since it they will never be similar to those communities existing previous fragmentation process even a recovery habitat occur or, they may require more time to response to this habitat recovery.17.
Poliana Mendes Kimberly A. With Luciana Signorelli Paulo De MarcoJr. 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(4):745-762
Context
Species site-occupancy patterns may be influenced by habitat variables at both local and landscape scales. Although local habitat variables influence whether the site is suitable for a given species, the broader landscape context can also influence site occupancy, particularly for species that are sensitive to land-use change.Objectives
To examine the relative importance of local versus landscape variables in explaining site occupancy of eight bat species within the Brazilian Cerrado, a Neotropical savanna that is experiencing widespread habitat loss and fragmentation.Methods
Bats were surveyed within 16 forest patches over two years. We used a multi-model information-theoretic approach, adjusted for species detection bias, to assess whether landscape variables (percent cover and number of patches of natural vegetation within a 2- and 8-km radius of each forest site) or local site variables (canopy cover, understory height, number of trees, and number of lianas) best explained site occupancy in each species.Results
Landscape variables were among the best models (ΔAICc or ΔQAICc < 2) for four species (top-ranked model for black myotis), whereas local variables were among the best for five species (top-ranked model for vampire bats). Neither local nor landscape variables explained site occupancy in two frugivorous species.Conclusion
Species associated with a particular habitat type will not respond similarly to the amount, distribution or relative suitability of that habitat, or even at the same scale. This reinforces the challenge of species distribution modelling, especially in the context of forecasting species’ responses to future land-use or climate-change scenarios.18.
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.19.
Context
Landscape modification is an important driver of biodiversity declines, yet we lack insight into how ongoing landscape change and legacies of historical land use together shape biodiversity.Objectives
We examined how a history of agricultural land use and current forest fragmentation influence the abundance of red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). We hypothesized that historical agriculture and fragmentation cause changes in habitat quality and landscape structure that limit abundance.Methods
We measured salamander abundance at 95 forested sites in New York, USA, and we determined whether sites were agricultural fields within the last five decades. We used a structural equation model to estimate relationships between historical agriculture and salamander abundance mediated by changes in forest vegetation, microclimate, and landscape structure.Results
Historical agriculture affected salamander abundance by altering forest vegetation at a local scale and forest cover at a landscape scale. Abundance was lowest at post-agricultural sites with low woody vegetation, leaf litter depth, and canopy cover. Post-agricultural sites had limited forest cover in the surrounding landscape historically, and salamander abundance was positively related to historical forest cover, suggesting that connectivity to source populations affects colonization of regenerating forests. Abundance was also negatively related to current forest fragmentation.Conclusions
Historical land use can have legacy effects on animal abundance on par with effects of ongoing landscape change. We showed that associations between animal abundance and historical land use can be driven by altered site conditions and surrounding habitat area, indicating that restoration efforts should consider local site conditions and landscape context.20.