Landscape connectivity and animal behavior: functional grain as a key determinant for dispersal |
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Authors: | Michel Baguette Hans Van Dyck |
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Institution: | (1) Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS-MNHN 7179, Avenue du petit chateau 4, 91800 Brunoy, France;(2) Department of Ecology and Biogeography, University of Louvain, Croix du sud 4, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Landscape connectivity can be viewed from two perspectives that could be considered as extremes of a gradient: functional
connectivity (refers to how the behavior of a dispersing organism is affected by landscape structure and elements) and structural
connectivity (depends on the spatial configuration of habitat patches in the landscape like vicinity or presence of barriers).
Here we argue that dispersal behavior changes with landscape configuration stressing the evolutionary dimension that has often
been ignored in landscape ecology. Our working hypothesis is that the functional grain of resource patches in the landscape
is a crucial factor shaping individual movements, and therefore influencing landscape connectivity. Such changes are likely
to occur on the short-term (some generations). We review empirical studies comparing dispersal behavior in landscapes differing
in their fragmentation level, i.e., with variable resource grain. We show that behavioral variation affecting each of the
three stages of the dispersal process (emigration, displacement or transfer in the matrix, and immigration) is indeed likely
to occur according to selective pressures resulting from changes in the grain of the landscape (mortality or deferred costs).
Accordingly, landscape connectivity results from the interaction between the dispersal behavior of individuals and the grain
of each particular landscape. The existence of this interaction requires that connectivity estimates (being based on individual-based
models, least cost distance algorithms, and structural connectivity metrics or even Euclidian distance) should be carefully
evaluated for their applicability with respect to the required level of precision in species-specific and landscape information. |
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Keywords: | Dispersal evolution Behavioral syndrome Life-history traits Animal personalities Habitat fragmentation Landscape grain Biological conservation Ecological network Landscape planning |
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