Integrating landscape ecology and conservation physiology |
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Authors: | Rebecca D Ellis Todd J McWhorter Martine Maron |
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Institution: | (1) Landscape Ecology and Conservation Group, Centre for Spatial Environmental Research, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia;(2) School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA, 5371, Australia; |
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Abstract: | The need to understand how anthropogenic landscape alteration affects fauna populations has never been more pressing. The
importance of developing an understanding of the processes behind local extinction is widely acknowledged, but inference from
spatial patterns of fauna distribution continues to dominate. However, this approach is limited in its ability to generate
strong predictions about future distributions and local extinctions, especially when population-level responses to landscape
alteration are subject to long time lags. We review the potential for indices of physiological stress and condition to contribute
to understanding of how landscape pattern affects species persistence. Such measures can indicate habitat quality from the
perspective of the individual animal, and can reveal environmental stressors before their negative consequences begin to manifest
at a population level. Spatial patterns of chronic stress may therefore yield valuable insight into how landscape alteration
influences species. We propose that the emerging disciplines of conservation physiology and macrophysiology have much to offer
spatial ecology, and have great potential to reveal the physiological pathways through which habitat alteration affects fauna
populations and their persistence in fragmented landscapes. |
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