A multi-species approach for assessing the impact of land-cover changes on landscape connectivity

Context

Land-cover changes (LCCs) could impact wildlife populations through gains or losses of natural habitats and changes in the landscape mosaic. To assess such impacts, we need to focus on landscape connectivity from a diachronic perspective.

Objectives

We propose a method for assessing the impact of LCCs on landscape connectivity through a multi-species approach based on graph theory. To do this, we combine two approaches devised to spatialize the variation of multi-species connectivity and to quantify the importance of types of LCCs for single-species connectivity by highlighting the possible contradictory effects.

Methods

We begin with a list of landscape species and create virtual species with similar ecological requirements. We model the ecological network of these virtual species at two dates and compute the variation of a local and global connectivity metric to assess the impacts of the LCCs on their dispersal capacities.

Results

The spatial variation of multi-species connectivity showed that local impacts range from ?6.4% to +3.2%. The assessment of the impacts of types of LCCs showed a variation in global connectivity ranging from ?45.1% for open-area reptiles to +170.2% for natural open-area birds with low-dispersion capacities.

Conclusions

This generic approach can be reproduced in a large variety of spatial contexts by adapting the selection of the initial species. The proposed method could inform and guide conservation actions and landscape management strategies so as to enhance or maintain connectivity for species at a landscape scale.

     

Impact of data integration technique on historical land-use/land-cover change: Comparing historical maps with remote sensing data in the Belgian Ardennes

Historical reconstructions of land-use/cover change often require comparing maps derived from different sources. The objective of this study was to measure land-use/cover changes over the last 225 years at the scale of a Belgian landscape, Lierneux in Ardennes, on the basis of a heterogeneous time series of land cover data. The comparability between the land-cover maps was increased following a method of data integration by map generalisation. Two types of time series were built by integrating the maps either by reference to the initial map of the time series or by pair of successive maps. Land-cover change detection was performed on the initial time series without data integration and on the two types of integrated time series. Results reveal that land cover and landscape structure have been subject to profound changes in Lierneux since 1775, with an annual rate of change at the landscape level of up to 1.40%. The major land-cover change processes observed are expansion of grasslands-croplands and reforestation with coniferous species, leading to amore fragmented landscape structure. The annual rates of land-cover change estimated from integrated data are significantly different from the annual rates of change estimated without a prior integration of the data. There is a trade-off between going as far back in time as possibleversus performing change detection as accurately as possible. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Influence of agricultural landscape structure on a Southern High Plains,USA, amphibian assemblage

Landscape structure can influence demographics of spatially structured populations, particularly less vagile organisms such as amphibians. We examined the influence of agricultural landscape structure on community composition and relative abundance of the 4 most common amphibians in the Southern High Plains of central USA. Amphibian populations were monitored using pitfall traps and drift fence at 16 playa wetlands (8 playas/year) in 1999 and 2000. We quantified landscape structure surrounding each playa via estimating 13 spatial metrics that indexed playa isolation and inter-playa landscape complexity. Multivariate ordination and univariate correlations and regressions indicated that landscape structure was associated with community composition and relative abundance for 2 of the 4 amphibians. Spadefoots (Spea multiplicata, S. bombifrons) generally were positively associated with decreasing inter-playa distance and increasing inter-playa landscape complexity. Great Plains toads (Bufo cognatus) and barred tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium) usually were negatively associated with spadefoots but not influenced by landscape structure. Composition and relative abundance patterns were related to amphibian body size, which can influence species vagility and perception to landscape permeability. Spatial separation of these species in the multivariate ordination also may have been a consequence of differential competitive ability among species. These results suggest agricultural landscape structure may influence abundance and composition of spatially structured amphibian populations. This also is the first applied documentation that inter-patch landscape complexity can affect intra-patch community composition of amphibians as predicted by metapopulation theory. In the Southern High Plains, landscape complexity is positively associated with agricultural cultivation. Agricultural cultivation increases sedimentation, decreases hydroperiod, alters amphibian community dynamics, and negatively impacts postmetamorphic body size of amphibians in playa wetlands. Thus, conservation efforts should focus on preserving or restoring native landscape structure, hydroperiod, and connectivity among playas to maintain native amphibian populations and historic inter-playa movement.     

The riverine thruway hypothesis: rivers as a key mediator of gene flow for the aquatic paradoxical frog Pseudis tocantins (Anura,Hylidae)

Landscape Ecology - Rivers, landscape, and climate can alter patterns of gene flow and consequently, shape intraspecific genetic variation. While rivers are predicted to halt gene flow in...     

Effects of land-cover change on spatial pattern of forest communities in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (USA)

Landscape Ecology - Understanding the implications of past, present and future patterns of human land use for biodiversity and ecosystem function is increasingly important in landscape ecology. We...     

Carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in a forest patchwork: a connectivity analysis of the Bereg Plain landscape graph

For many species, one important key to persistence is maintaining connectivity among local populations that allow for dispersal and gene flow. This is probably true for carabid species (Coleoptera:Carabidae) living in the fragmented forests of the Bereg Plain (NE Hungary and W Ukraine). Based on field data, we have drafted a landscape graph of the area representing the habitat network of these species. Graph nodes and links represented two kinds of landscape elements: habitat (forest) patches and corridors, respectively. The quality of habitat patches and corridors were ranked (from low (1) to high (4)), reflecting local population sizes in the case of patches and estimated permeability in the case of corridors. We analysed (1) the positional importance of landscape elements in maintaining the connectivity of the intact network, (2) the effect of inserting hypothetical corridors into the network, (3) the effects of improving the quality of the existing corridors, and (4) how to connect every patch in a cost-effective way. Our results set quantitative priorities for conservation practice by identifying important corridors: what to protect, what to build and what to improve. Several network analytical techniques were used to account for the directed (source-sink) and highly fragmented nature of the landscape graph. We provide conservation priority ranks for the landscape elements and discuss the conditions for the use of particular network indices. Our study could be of extreme relevance, since a new highway is being planned through the area.     

Inconsistent effects of landscape heterogeneity and land-use on animal diversity in an agricultural mosaic: a multi-scale and multi-taxon investigation

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.

     

Reproductive characteristics of Opisthopappus taihangensis (Ling) Shih,an endangered Asteraceae species endemic to China

Opisthopappus taihangensis is an endangered species endemic to China and represents an important genetic resource for chrysanthemum improvement. We describe here its basic reproductive characteristics. The anthers are tetrasporangiate and the anther wall is composed of an epidermis, endothecium, middle layer and tapetum. The middle layer is lost by the microspore tetrad stage, and the tapetum disintegrates at the trinucleate pollen stage. Meiosis in the microspore mother cells is of the simultaneous type, and the tetrad is tetrahedral in shape. Mature pollen grains have three germinal apertures, two sperm nuclei and one vegetative nucleus. The in vitro pollen germination rate is only ∼10%. The ovule is anatropous, dual-integument, tenuinucellatae and the development of the embryo sac follows the Oenothera pattern. The archesporial cell below the nucellus epidermis functions as the megaspore mother cell and forms a linear tetrad. The embryo passes through a globular, heart and torpedo stage before maturing into a cotyledon embryo. The endangerment of O. taihangensis may be associated with low reproductive capacity, as a consequence of poor pollen viability.     

A comparison of metrics predicting landscape connectivity for a highly interactive species along an urban gradient in Colorado, USA

Many organisms persist in fragmented habitat where movement between patches is essential for long-term demographic and genetic stability. In the absence of direct observation of movement, connectivity or isolation metrics are useful to characterize potential patch-level connectivity. However, multiple metrics exist at varying levels of complexity, and empirical data on species distribution are rarely used to compare performance of metrics. We compared 12 connectivity metrics of varying degrees of complexity to determine which metric best predicts the distribution of prairie dog colonies along an urban gradient of 385 isolated habitat patches in Denver, Colorado, USA. We found that a modified version of the incidence function model including area-weighting of patches and a cost-weighted distance surface best predicted occupancy, where we assumed roads were fairly impermeable to movement, and low-lying drainages provided dispersal corridors. We also found this result to be robust to a range of cost weight parameters. Our results suggest that metrics should incorporate both patch area and the composition of the surrounding matrix. These results provide guidance for improved landscape habitat modeling in fragmented landscapes and can help identify target habitat for conservation and management of prairie dogs in urban systems.     

Analysis of land-use change in a sector of Upper Franconia (Bavaria,Germany) since 1850 using land register records

This study analyses changes in the landscape of a sector of Upper Franconia (Bavaria, Germany) by comparing land use changes over four time periods (1850, 1900, 1960, 2000). Geodetic and other data derived from the Bavarian real estate tax and land register were entered into various temporal layers of a land register-based vector GIS. This multitemporal GIS permits a precise analysis of the historical structure and development of landscapes on the basis of land plots.In 1850, the study area was almost exclusively agricultural in structure. Woodlands made up only 18% of the total surface. Rough pastures and wastelands, which covered about 9% of the total surface, were used for grazing. During the first half of the 20th century, the proportion of wooded areas increased considerably. The rough pastures that had formerly been a typical feature of the region nearly disappeared during this period. Agricultural use declined to less than 50% of the total area. In the course of the period between 1960 and 2000, the livestock industry has become an almost exclusively indoor activity. Village development has started spilling over into the adjacent fields. The causes and background of these changes are discussed in detail.From an ecological standpoint, the land use categories surveyed in this analysis of landscape change can be regarded as vegetation types, thereby constituting habitats for specialized biota. The intensity and frequency of any type of land use creates a certain disturbance regime, which disrupts and controls the succession in a certain way. The concept of categories of change incorporated into the GIS helps to evaluate these habitat types and the rate of change more accurately, e.g. for nature conservation purposes.     

The recent landscape history of Limpach valley, Switzerland: considering three empirical hypotheses on driving forces of landscape change

Understanding global landscape dynamics is a core challenge for the newly emerged field of land change science. Such an understanding requires insights into general pattern of landscape changes and the related driving forces. Many case studies of landscape change exist, but only few attempts have been made, to synthesize the results and to search for general pattern. We suggest that applying hypotheses on driving forces of landscape change derived from one case study in another region as a promising way to advance towards a more integrative view on landscape dynamics. Based on the conclusions drawn in a case study conducted in Godmanchester (Quebec, Canada; Domon and Bouchard 2007), we formulated three hypotheses and discussed them in a case study on landscape change in the Limpach valley, Switzerland. We confirm the importance of geomorphological characteristics for landscape development (hypothesis 1) and our analysis also supports the second hypothesis, which states that changes in demand for certain resources result in landscape change. However, we suggest replacing the term resources by the more encompassing concept of goods and services. The third hypothesis, which states that technological transformations stand at the beginning of landscape change, also was confirmed. Technologies have to be affordable, socially accepted, and corresponding to a demand, to be implemented on a large scale. This will cause a technological transformation, which then—depending on the specifics of the technology applied—becomes relevant for landscape development. We conclude with three reworded hypotheses on driving forces of landscape change and we hope that they will be tested and further developed in other case studies.     

The impact of European landscape transitions on the provision of landscape services: an explorative study using six cases of rural land change

Landscape Ecology - The reasons for recent landscape change in the European countryside are complex and poorly substantiated. Identification of drivers of landscape transition and assessment of the...     

Temporal (1958–1995) pattern of change in a cultural landscape of northwestern Portugal: implications for fire occurrence

In this paper we test the hypothesis that landscape changes in a region of Northern Portugal (Minho) in the last 40 years could be predicted from socioeconomic and political history. The major predicted changes were related to agricultural abandonment and afforestation. We further predicted that these changes contributed to increased fire risk. Analysis of aerial photography for the years 1958, 1968, 1983 and 1995 in a study area of 3700 ha revealed a significant decline in agricultural areas and low shrublands and an increase in tall shrublands and forests. This represented a 20–40% increase in fuel accumulation at a landscape level, suggesting that the abandonment of farming activities is a major driving force of increasing fire occurrence in the region. With one exception, all the predictions were partly or totally confirmed. This study confirms that socioeconomic factors might explain a significant part of the variation in landscape composition across time, in the Mediterranean region.     

Simulating the effects of climate change on population connectivity of American marten (Martes americana) in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA

We utilize empirically derived estimates of landscape resistance to assess current landscape connectivity of American marten (Martes americana) in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA, and project how a warming climate may affect landscape resistance and population connectivity in the future. We evaluate the influences of five potential future temperature scenarios involving different degrees of warming. We use resistant kernel dispersal models to assess population connectivity based on full occupancy of suitable habitat in each of these hypothetical future resistance layers. We use the CDPOP model to simulate gene exchange among individual martens in each of these hypothetical future climates. We evaluate: (1) changes in the extent, connectivity and pattern of marten habitat, (2) changes in allelic richness and expected heterozygosity, and (3) changes in the range of significant positive genetic correlation within the northern Idaho marten population under each future scenario. We found that even moderate warming scenarios resulted in very large reductions in population connectivity. Calculation of genetic correlograms for each scenario indicates that climate driven changes in landscape connectivity results in decreasing range of genetic correlation, indicating more isolated and smaller genetic neighborhoods. These, in turn, resulted in substantial loss of allelic richness and reductions in expected heterozygosity. In the U.S. northern Rocky Mountains, climate change may extensively fragment marten populations to a degree that strongly reduces genetic diversity. Our results demonstrate that for species, such as the American marten, whose population connectivity is highly tied to climatic gradients, expected climate change can result in profound changes in the extent, pattern, connectivity and gene flow of populations.     

Regional land-cover conversion in the U.S. upper Midwest: magnitude of change and limited recovery (1850–1935–1993)

Land-use legacies can persist for hundreds to thousands of years, influencing plant species composition, nutrient cycling, water flows, and climate. To understand how land use has affected regional land-cover composition in Wisconsin (USA), we assessed the magnitude and direction of change in land cover between: (1) c.1850, at the onset of Euro-American settlement; (2) c.1935, the period of maximum clearing for agriculture following widespread forest logging; and (3) 1993, which, especially in northern Wisconsin, follows farm abandonment and forest recovery. We derived land-cover maps using U.S. Public Land Survey records (c.1850), the Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory (c.1935), and Landsat TM satellite data (1993). We stratified Wisconsin (145,000 km²) into two ecological provinces and used spatial error models, multinomial logistic regression, and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination to examine change. Between 1850 and 1935, forest cover in the North declined from 84% to 56%, cropland increased to 24%, and mixed/coniferous forests and savannas were replaced by deciduous forests. In the South, formerly dominant savannas (69%) and prairies (6%) were mostly converted to cropland (51%) and pasture (11%). Remnant deciduous savannas and coniferous forests and savannas were replaced by deciduous forests. Remarkably little recovery to pre-settlement land-cover classes occurred from 1935 to 1993. Less cropland was abandoned than expected, and there was little net gain in coniferous/mixed forest. Based on these general land-cover classes, current cover is significantly different from that in 1850, but not from that in 1935, and thus continues to reflect historical logging and agricultural patterns. These results provide a historical framework for measuring associated changes in ecosystem function and can be used to guide restoration where desirable and feasible.     

A multi-scale assessment of population connectivity in African lions (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Panthera leo)</Emphasis> in response to landscape change

Context

Habitat loss and fragmentation are among the major drivers of population declines and extinction, particularly in large carnivores. Connectivity models provide practical tools for assessing fragmentation effects and developing mitigation or conservation responses. To be useful to conservation practitioners, connectivity models need to incorporate multiple scales and include realistic scenarios based on potential changes to habitat and anthropogenic pressures. This will help to prioritize conservation efforts in a changing landscape.

Objectives

The goal of our paper was to evaluate differences in population connectivity for lions (Panthera leo) across the Kavango-Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area (KAZA) under different landscape change scenarios and a range of dispersal distances.

Methods

We used an empirically optimized resistance surface, based on analysis of movement pathways of dispersing lions in southern Africa to calculate resistant kernel connectivity. We assessed changes in connectivity across nine landscape change scenarios, under each of which we explored the behavior of lions with eight different dispersal abilities.

Results

Our results demonstrate that reductions in the extent of the protected area network and/or fencing protected areas will result in large declines in the extent of population connectivity, across all modeled dispersal abilities. Creation of corridors or erection of fences strategically placed to funnel dispersers between protected areas increased overall connectivity of the population.

Conclusions

Our results strongly suggest that the most effective means of maintaining long-term population connectivity of lions in the KAZA region involves retaining the current protected area network, augmented with protected corridors or strategic fencing to direct dispersing individuals towards suitable habitat and away from potential conflict areas.

     

Influence of biophysical factors and differences in Ojibwe reservation versus Euro-American social histories on forest landscape change in northern Wisconsin,USA

Landscape ecology studies have demonstrated that past modifications of the landscape frequently influence its structure, highlighting the utility of integrating historical perspectives from the fields of historical ecology and environmental history. Yet questions remain for historically-informed landscape ecology, especially the relative influence of social factors, compared to biophysical factors, on long-term land-cover change. Moreover, methods are needed to more effectively link history to ecology, specifically to illuminate the underlying political, economic, and cultural forces that influence heterogeneous human drivers of land-cover change. In northern Wisconsin, USA, we assess the magnitude of human historical forces, relative to biophysical factors, on land-cover change of a landscape dominated by eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) forest before Euro-American settlement. First, we characterize land-cover transitions of pine-dominant sites over three intervals (1860–1931; 1931–1951; 1951–1987). Transition analysis shows that white pine was replaced by secondary successional forest communities and agricultural land-covers. Second, we assess the relative influence of a socio-historical variable (“on-/off-Indian reservation”), soil texture (clay and sand), and elevation on land-cover transition. On the Lake Superior clay plain, models that combine socio-historical and biophysical variables best explain long-term land-cover change. The socio-historical variable dominates: the magnitude and rate of land-cover change differs among regions exposed to contrasting human histories. Third, we developed an integrative environmental history-landscape ecology approach, thereby facilitating linkage of observed land-cover transitions to broader political, economic, and cultural forces. These results are relevant to other landscape investigations that integrate history and ecology.     

Influence of forest cover on in-stream large wood in an agricultural landscape of southeastern Brazil: a multi-scale analysis

Large wood (LW) is critical to the structure and function of streams and forests are the main LW source to stream channels. To assess the influence of forest cover changes at different spatial scales on in-stream LW quantity, we selected eighteen catchments (2nd–4th order) in Southeastern Brazil with forests at different levels of alterations. In each catchment we quantified the pattern of forest cover (% cover and relative catchment position), the physical characteristics of catchments (elevation and slope), the characteristics of channels (wetted channel width and depth), the abundance and volume of in-stream LW, and the frequency of LW pools. We used simple and multiple linear regression to assess the response of LW variables to landscape and stream reach variables. Most of the LW was relatively small; 72 % had a diameter <20 cm, and 66 % had a length <5 m. Although percent forest cover at reach scale had substantial support to explain LW variables, the best predictors of LW variables were forest cover at broader scales (LW abundance and LW pool frequency were best predicted by forest at intermediate distance at the catchment scale and LW volume was best predicted by forest cover at the drainage network scale), suggesting that downstream transport is an important process in addition to local processes in our study area. These findings have important management implications because although low forested reaches receive less LW from local forests (or no LW in the case of deforested stream reaches), they are receiving LW from upstream forested reaches. However, the material is generally small, unstable and likely to be easily flushed. This suggests that not only should riparian forest conservation encompass the full drainage network, but forests should also be allowed to regenerate to later successional stages to provide larger, higher quality LW for natural structuring of streams.