Review
Ecology
Cristina Banks-Leite, Matthew G. Betts, Robert M. Ewers, C. David L. Orme, Alex L. Pigot
Summary: The main goal of landscape ecology is to understand the impact of habitat transformation on biodiversity. However, the discipline faces challenges due to the context dependency of observed spatial and temporal trends. This study discusses recent evidence suggesting that factors and processes at macroecological scales, such as historical disturbance rates, distance to geographic range edges, and climatic suitability, modulate populations' and species' responses to habitat change at the landscape scale.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Wojciech Pomianowski
Summary: The importance of optimization in graph-theoretic algorithms and landscape connectivity methods is explored in this article. It is pointed out that indeterminate solutions may introduce bias in the results, and two optimization targets are distinguished. The use of complete planar graphs is advocated over thresholding in landscape graph creation.
ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING & SOFTWARE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
F. Mestre, B. Silva
Summary: The lconnect R package is a user-friendly tool for assessing landscape connectivity and prioritizing habitat patches, which helps understand and address the challenges in biodiversity conservation.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Shuai Ma, Liang-Jie Wang, Jiang Jiang, Yu-Guo Zhao
Summary: Agricultural expansion has caused significant loss of natural vegetation and landscape fragmentation, posing a serious threat to biodiversity. This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of agricultural expansion on natural habitats in Lishui city, China. The results showed that agricultural expansion led to a 6.08% decrease in natural habitats, with 43.84% of the impacts being direct and 56.16% being indirect. The indirect effects of agricultural expansion on natural habitats were approximately 32 times larger than the direct effects. Different landscape fragmentation processes had varying effects on natural habitats, and the agricultural land system balance policy was identified as the main driver of agricultural expansion and landscape fragmentation. Sustainable agricultural landscape management is essential to mitigate the impact of agricultural expansion on biodiversity.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Carmen Galan-Acedo, Victor Arroyo-Rodriguez, Ellen Andresen, Pedro A. D. Dias
Summary: The impact of landscape structure on howler monkeys varies among regions. Forest loss is negatively related to primate abundance in regions with higher deforestation levels, while increasing forest cover is crucial for maintaining the populations. Improving matrix quality is also valuable for population conservation.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Andreia Malpica, Clementina Gonzalez
Summary: This study examines the influence of landscape features on the genetic connectivity of Thryophilus sinaloa, a common bird species associated with tropical dry forests. The results show that open-areas resistance surface and geographic distance reduce genetic connectivity, indicating that protected areas are partially isolated from other non-protected areas.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Ewa Falkowska, Elzbieta Jancewicz
Summary: Loss of connectivity between habitat patches has a significant impact on the genetic differentiation and resilience of small, environmentally specialized species with short migratory capacity. The geomorphological evolution of landscapes can influence genetic variability and the distribution of habitats for species like the root vole. Suitable habitats for the root vole are configured differently in different areas, influencing gene dispersal and resilience.
Article
Forestry
Lissette Cortes, Jaime Hernandez
Summary: The coastal zone of the Region of Maule in Chile, dominated by Monterey pine plantations, is managed using intensive silvicultural schemes, including clearcutting. However, Chile currently lacks explicit restrictions on clearcutting. This study analyzed forest area trends and identified the spatiotemporal scales of clearcutting clustering from 1999 to 2017. The results showed that clearcutting areas exhibited oscillatory behavior, with an average size of 46.8 km(2) and an active period of 2 years.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Denis Vasiliev, Sarah Greenwood
Summary: Despite conservation efforts, pollinator biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates. Conservation approaches often overlook landscape connectivity and focus on resource availability. The underestimated role of landscape connectivity may undermine conservation efforts by failing to consider the effects on pollinator assemblages.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Flavia Freire Siqueira, Dulcineia de Carvalho, Jonathan Rhodes, Carla L. Archibald, Vanessa Leite Rezende, Eduardo van den Berg
Summary: The study investigated the role of Small Landscape Elements (SLEs) in landscape connectivity within the highly fragmented Atlantic Forest. It found that in these landscapes, the position of SLEs was more important than their respective areas for enhancing landscape connectivity.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Rachel Jones, Nigel A. D. Bourn, Ilya M. D. Maclean, Robert J. Wilson
Summary: The study demonstrates that landscape-scale conservation can be achieved through local habitat management. By investigating the population dynamics of the Lulworth skipper butterfly in the UK and simulating the effects of habitat quality, the researchers found that changes in local habitat quality can overcome the constraints imposed by patch size and spatial location. Therefore, monitoring and managing local habitat quality are effective strategies for conservation in fragmented landscapes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Miriam San-Jose, Leland K. Werden, Francis H. Joyce, J. Leighton Reid, Karen D. Holl, Rakan A. Zahawi
Summary: This study assessed the impact of tree cover and configuration on forest-dependent birds and tree seedlings, and found that the abundance and species richness of birds increase significantly in landscapes with more corridors, higher tree cover, and lower fragmentation. However, the influence on seedlings is weaker. The study underscores the importance of considering landscape-level metrics in restoration projects.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Javan M. Bauder, William E. Peterman, Stephen F. Spear, Christopher L. Jenkins, Andrew R. Whiteley, Kevin McGarigal
Summary: The study focuses on the importance of landscape features and their scale effects on gene flow, using genetic algorithms to optimize landscape resistance surfaces. Results suggest that multisurface multiscale LRS outperformed other approaches, especially large-scale LRS had the greatest impact on eastern indigo snake connectivity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
N. K. Abram, B. Skara, N. Othman, M. Ancrenaz, K. Mengersen, B. Goossens
Summary: In the Kinabatangan floodplain, the expansion of oil palm plantations and human settlements has resulted in the reduction and fragmentation of the lowland tropical forests, affecting the behavior of the endangered Bornean elephants. While female elephants exhibit a high fidelity to forests, male elephants and some females heavily use oil palm estates.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Shirin Alipour, Lukasz Walas
Summary: Changes in environmental factors and human impact accelerate the extinction of woody species. This study evaluates the impact of climate change and human population density on Buxus hyrcana distribution and habitat fragmentation. The results show that B. hyrcana's potential range will decrease due to climate change and human influence, leading to negative effects on its habitat continuity. The findings contribute to the development of protection strategies for this endangered species.
JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul Savary, Jean-Christophe Foltete, Herve Moal, Gilles Vuidel, Stephane Garnier
Summary: This study explored the use of genetic graphs in landscape genetic analyses, comparing different pruning methods and genetic distances to weight graph links. Results showed that methods based on geographical distance thresholds were more effective in identifying dispersal networks, and counter-intuitively, sub-selection of pairwise distances through graph pruning could lead to improved inferences of landscape effects on dispersal. Additionally, genetic distances such as D-PS or Euclidean genetic distances were found to respond faster to landscape changes, making them preferable for landscape effect inference.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Paul Savary, Jean-Christophe Foltete, Herve Moal, Gilles Vuidel, Stephane Garnier
Summary: The study developed an R package to enhance and promote the use of landscape and genetic graphs in landscape genetics. The package includes functions for handling genetic data, computing genetic distances, and geodesic calculations, as well as command-line tools and various parameters for analysis. Users can analyze, compare, visualize the graphs and export them for further research.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Wajdi Zaatour, Nicolas Marilleau, Patrick Giraudoux, Nadege Martiny, Abdesslem Ben Haj Amara, Slimane Ben Miled
Summary: This study investigates the spread of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in Central Tunisia using an agent-based model (ABM) focusing on the movement of Meriones shawi (M.shawi). The research shows that the prevalence of the disease is closely related to rodent movement types and vegetation cover.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2021)
Article
Parasitology
Qian Wang, Bo Zhong, Wenjie Yu, Guangjia Zhang, Christine M. Budke, Sha Liao, Wei He, Fan Chen, Kejun Xu, Fei Xie, Danbazeli, Qi Wang, Liu Yang, Yan Huang, Ruirui Li, Renxing Yao, Patrick Giraudoux, Philip S. Craig
Summary: Assessment of a control programme in Gansu province showed that deworming owned dogs can significantly reduce E. multilocularis infection in owned dogs and human AE prevalence, but did not have a significant impact on infection in wildlife intermediate hosts.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nicolas Meyer, Loic Bollache, Matthias Galipaud, Jerome Moreau, Francois-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont, Eve Afonso, Anders Angerbjorn, Joel Bety, Glen Brown, Dorothee Ehrich, Vladimir Gilg, Marie-Andree Giroux, Jannik Hansen, Richard Lanctot, Johannes Lang, Christopher Latty, Nicolas Lecomte, Laura McKinnon, Lisa Kennedy, Jeroen Reneerkens, Sarah Saalfeld, Brigitte Sabard, Niels M. Schmidt, Benoit Sittler, Paul Smith, Aleksander Sokolov, Vasiliy Sokolov, Natalia Sokolova, Rob van Bemmelen, Oystein Varpe, Olivier Gilg
Summary: Birds invest time and energy in incubating their eggs, potentially sacrificing other activities. Different incubation strategies in birds lead to different behavioral responses to temperature and primary productivity proxies, with smaller species showing stronger responses to ground-surface temperature. Some uniparental species exhibit a lag effect in nest attentiveness following warm days.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yohan Sahraoui, Celine Clauzel, Jean-Christophe Foltete
Summary: This study proposes a framework for analyzing the covariation between visual and ecological landscape qualities through spatial metrics, applied to the urban agglomeration of Besancon in France. The study reveals a more marked convergence than divergence between visual and ecological changes in the area, providing insights for integrated landscape management.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Eve Afonso, Rong Fu, Amael Dupaix, Anne-Claude Goydadin, ZhongHua Yu, Dayong Li, Patrick Giraudoux, Li Li
Summary: The development of ecotourism may lead to subpopulations of wildlife becoming genetically structured and experiencing reduced genetic diversity, highlighting the need to strike a balance between conservation and tourism.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Review
Ecology
Lea Uroy, Audrey Alignier, Cendrine Mony, Jean-Christophe Foltete, Aude Ernoult
Summary: This article provides an overview of existing methods for assessing the temporal dynamics of connectivity, highlighting two main approaches based on spatial dispersal and spatio-temporal dispersal. These methods offer indicators to advance understanding of biodiversity patterns and implement measures to conserve and restore connectivity.
Article
Ecology
Paul Savary, Jean-Christophe Foltete, Maarten J. van Strien, Herve Moal, Gilles Vuidel, Stephane Garnier
Summary: This study examined the influence of habitat quantity and spatial configuration on genetic structure, showing that measuring the amount of reachable habitat (ARH) can effectively describe habitat patterns and predict genetic structure. ARH metrics were found to be relevant predictors of genetic structure components, demonstrating significant impact on allelic richness and genetic differentiation.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Paul Savary, Jean Christophe Foltete, Stephane Garnier
Summary: Least-cost path modeling is crucial for biodiversity conservation and landscape planning, but it is also influenced by cost scenarios. The study found that the spatial overlap of LCPs is more sensitive to cost scenarios, and highly correlated CD matrices can be derived from different cost scenarios. Therefore, when using LCP modeling, factors such as the range of cost values, landscape composition, and configuration variables should be considered.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Monica E. Riojas-Lopez, Eric Mellink, Patrick Giraudoux
Summary: This study investigates the factors influencing bird and rodent assemblages in semi-arid rangelands in the southern Mexican Plateau. The results show that the condition of the rangelands and the seasons have different effects on the abundance and distribution of bird and rodent species. Shrub and nopal habitats are important components influencing the abundance of birds and rodents. Bird species turnover is higher than rodent species turnover, suggesting that birds have greater mobility to explore different patches of rangelands.
RANGELAND ECOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Christopher Marston, Clare Rowland, Aneurin O'Neil, Seth Irish, Francis Wat'senga, Pilar Martin-Gallego, Paul Aplin, Patrick Giraudoux, Clare Strode
Summary: Methods were developed to identify the biogeographical variables driving the abundance and distribution of three malaria vectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo using Earth Observation (EO) data, mosquito monitoring captures, and Google Earth Engine. The results showed the importance of rainfall and land surface temperature in relation to mosquito abundance, as well as the coverage of forest and grassland. The developed method can provide a crucial tool for designing control programs and improving disease control activities to reduce malaria transmission.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul Savary, Jean-Christophe Foltete, Herve Moal, Gilles Vuidel, Stephane Garnier
Summary: In this study, the reliability of cost value inference in connectivity models was assessed under different migration rates, population spatial patterns, and degrees of population size heterogeneity. The study also examined whether considering intra-population variables improved the inference when drift was spatially heterogeneous. The results showed that considering intra-population variables can improve the reliability of cost value inference and better identify the true cost scenarios in certain situations.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christopher Marston, Francis Raoul, Clare Rowland, Jean-Pierre Quere, Xiaohui Feng, Renyong Lin, Patrick Giraudoux
Summary: Small mammal species play a crucial role in various ecological processes and can have significant impacts on agricultural sectors and disease transmission. This study utilizes Earth observation data and on-site surveys to develop species distribution models for nine small mammal species in China and Kyrgyzstan. The models identify the key landscape variables driving species abundance and distributions, highlighting the optimal conditions for each species. The results improve our understanding of small mammal distributions and abundances, bridging the gap between human-defined and species-defined perspectives of optimal habitat.
Article
Computer Science, Software Engineering
Jean-Christophe Foltete, Gilles Vuidel, Paul Savary, Celine Clauzel, Yohan Sahraoui, Xavier Girardet, Marc Bourgeois
Summary: Landscape graphs are increasingly used in ecology, conservation, and landscape planning for modeling habitat connectivity of wildlife species. Graphab is a software application for modeling habitat networks, with advanced functions of spatial analysis. It has been widely used in ecological studies and biodiversity preservation decisions.