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90 results for “landscape composition”
Predatory arthropod community composition in apple orchards: Orchard management, landscape structure and sampling method
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Data from: More than fish: Diet composition of fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) in human-dominated landscape
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Data from: Decreasing predation rates and shifting predator compositions along a land-use gradient in Madagascar's vanilla landscapes
<p>1. Land-use change is the main driver of deforestation and land degradation resulting in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in north-eastern Madagascar. Vanilla, the region's main cash crop, is grown in agroforestry systems and may provide an opportunity for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.</p> <p>2. We used dummy caterpillars to assess predation rates and predator communities along a land-use gradient including unburned old-growth and forest fragments, herbaceous and woody fallows after shifting cultivation with fire usage, as well as rice paddies. The studied vanilla agroforests were either forest-derived or fallow-derived. Besides land-use type, we considered the effects of land-use history (unburned/burned), plot-level parameters and the landscape composition to conclude on management recommendations.</p> <p>3. Old-growth forest and forest fragments exhibited highest predation rates, which decreased with land-use intensity. Overall, predation was higher in unburned land-use types than in more open, previously burned habitats and rice paddies. High stem and vegetation densities were positively related to predation rates, but decreased with land-use intensity. High forest cover in the surrounding landscape led to higher predation rates, while local structural parameters remained more important.</p> <p>4. The predator community was arthropod-dominated across all land-use types with ants responsible for between 33 % and 69 % of all predation events. Overall predator composition in old-growth and forest fragments differed from all other land-use types. Predation by Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera) was lower in all land-use types, including forest-derived vanilla, than in old-growth forest and forest fragments, where they were important contributors to total predation. Vertebrate predation was low throughout.</p> Synthesis and applications: Forested habitats feature higher predation rates and different predator compositions than other land-use systems. Maintaining or restoring tree- and understory-rich vanilla agroforestry represents a viable tool in landscape conservation programmes as it has the potential to contribute to the conservation of predation as an important ecosystem function in both forest- and fallow-derived agroforests. However, vanilla agroforestry has limited value in conserving forest-specialised predator communities. While the establishment of tree-rich agroforests on former fallow land is favourable for conservation ecosystem functioning, further forest transformation should be <a>avoided</a>.
Data from: A 454 survey reveals the community composition and core microbiome of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) across an urban landscape
Elucidating the spatial dynamic and core constituents of the microbial communities found in association with arthropod hosts is of crucial importance for insects that may vector human or agricultural pathogens. The hematophagous Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), known as the human bed bug, has made a recent resurgence in North America, as well as worldwide, potentially owing to increased travel, climate change and resistance to insecticides. A comprehensive survey of the bed bug microbiome has not been performed to date, nor has an assessment of the spatial dynamics of its microbiome. Here we present a survey of internal and external bed bug microbial communities by amplifying the V4–V6 hypervariable region of the 16S rDNA gene region followed by 454 Titanium sequencing using 31 individuals from eight distinct collection locations obtained from residences in Cincinnati, OH. Across all samples, 97% of the microbial community is made up of two dominant OTUs, previously identified as the α-proteobacterium Wolbachia and an unnamed γ-proteobacterium from the Enterobacteriaceae. Microbial communities varied among host locations for measures of community diversity and exhibited structure according to collection location. This broad survey represents the most in-depth assessment, to date, of the microbes that associate with bed bugs.
Data from: Configurational landscape heterogeneity shapes functional community composition of grassland butterflies
1. Landscape heterogeneity represents two aspects of landscape simplification: (i) compositional heterogeneity (diversity of habitat types) and (ii) configurational heterogeneity (number, size and arrangement of habitat patches); both with different ecological implications for community composition. 2. We examined how independent gradients of compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity, at eight spatial scales, shape taxonomic and functional composition of butterfly communities in 91 managed grasslands across Germany. We used landscape metrics that were calculated from functional maps based on habitat preferences of individual species during different life stages. The relative effects of compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity were compared with those of local land use intensity on butterfly taxonomic diversity, community composition and functional diversity of traits related to body size, feeding breadth and migratory tendency. 3. As expected, compositional heterogeneity had strong positive effects on taxonomic diversity while configurational heterogeneity had strong positive effects on trait dominance within the community. When landscapes had smaller mean patch size and greater boundary area, communities were dominated by species with more specialized larval feeding, decreased forewing length and limited migratory tendency. 4. The positive effects of increased configurational landscape heterogeneity outweighed the negative effects of local land use intensity on larval feeding specialization, at all spatial scales, highlighting its importance for specialists of all dispersal capabilities. 5. Synthesis and applications. We show that landscapes with high compositional heterogeneity support communities with greater taxonomic diversity, while landscapes with high configurational heterogeneity support communities that include vulnerable species (feeding specialists with larger body size, sedentary nature and more negatively affected by local management intensity). A decline in functional community composition can lead to functional homogenization, affecting the viability of the ecosystems by decreasing the variability in their responses to disturbance and altering their functioning. A landscape management for grasslands that promotes the maintenance of small patch sizes and a diversity of land-uses in the surrounding landscape (within 250–1000 m) is recommended for the conservation of diverse butterfly communities. These strategies could also benefit Government programs such as the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy in their efforts to reduce the loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
Extinction-immigration dynamics lag behind environmental filtering in shaping the composition of tropical dry forests within a changing landscape
The impact of rapid habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity is a major issue. However, we still lack an integrative understanding of how these changes influence biodiversity dynamics over time. In this study, we investigate the effects of these changes in terms of both niche-based and neutral dynamics. We hypothesize that habitat loss has delayed effects on neutral immigration-extinction dynamics, while edge effects and environmental heterogeneity in habitat patches have rapid effects on niche-based dynamics. We analyzed taxonomic and functional composition of 100 tree communities in a tropical dry forest landscape of New-Caledonia subject to habitat loss and fragmentation. We designed an original, process-based simulation framework, and performed Approximate Bayesian Computation to infer the influence of niche-based and neutral processes. Then, we performed partial regressions to evaluate the relationships between inferred parameter values of communities and landscape metrics (distance to edge, patch area, and habitat amount around communities), derived from either recent or past (65 yrs ago) aerial photographs, while controlling for the effect of soil and topography. We found that landscape structure influences both environmental filtering and immigration. Immigration rate was positively related to past habitat amount surrounding communities. In contrast, environmental filtering was mostly affected by present landscape structure and mainly influenced by edge vicinity and topography. Our results highlight that landscape changes have contrasting spatio-temporal influences on niche-based and neutral assembly dynamics. First, landscape-level habitat loss and community isolation reduce immigration and increase demographic stochasticity, resulting in slow decline of local species diversity and extinction debt. Second, recent edge creation affects environmental filtering, incurring rapid changes in community composition by favoring species with edge-adapted strategies. Our study brings new insights about temporal impacts of landscape changes on biodiversity dynamics. We stress that landscape history critically influences these dynamics and should be taken into account in conservation policies.
Data from: Landscape composition has limited impact on local genetic structure in mountain clover, Trifolium montanum L.
Semi-dry grasslands in the European Alps have been increasingly fragmented over the last 150 years. Few studies have investigated the implications of landscape configuration for genetic structure and gene flow among remnant habitat patches. Conservation management of semi-dry grassland plants rarely accounts for possible effects of major landscape elements; such as forest patches, as barriers to gene flow and dispersal via seed and pollen, despite their potential importance for biodiversity conservation. Using 1,416 individuals from 61 sampling sites across two valleys in South-Eastern Switzerland and AFLP fingerprints we applied a spatial strip and a circle approach to determine the impact of different landscape elements on genetic differentiation in the semi-dry grassland herb Trifolium montanum (mountain clover). Overall genetic differentiation among sampling sites was low (overall FST = 0.044). Forest area had no effect on gene flow at the landscape scale but area of semi-dry grassland, the potential habitat of T. montanum, road area and altitude influenced genetic differentiation among sampling sites. The observed pattern of genetic differentiation suggests that a future increase in forest area, due to land use abandonment, at least in the short term, are unlikely to directly impact patterns of genetic variation in T. montanum.
Data from: Impacts of landscape composition, marginality of distribution, soil fertility, and climatic stability on the patterns of woody plant endemism in the Cerrado
Aim: Although various theories have been proposed to explain the outstanding endemism of plants in the Cerrado, four hypotheses about the mechanisms of diversification and distribution are most supported: (1) plateau/valley, (2) stable/unstable climate, (3) core/peripheral distribution, and (4) soil fertility. The first argues that plateaus harbor more ancient lineages than valleys and therefore presents higher endemism. The second theory suggests that climatic stable environments maintained more paleoendemic species. The third scenario attributes the distribution of endemism to gradients of conditions available to locally adapted species and predicts higher endemism in nuclear than in marginal areas. The last theory suggests that lower fertility soils account for higher endemism due to the habitat specialization of its species. We compared endemism patterns with the predictions of each theory to discuss their importance. Location: Brazil. Time period: Quaternary. Major taxa studied: Angiosperms. Methods: We mapped the endemism using records of 311 plant species of the Cerrado and applied spatial analysis and distribution models to summarize the importance of each predictor of endemism. Results: We identified 28 areas in which the higher endemism of Cerrado plants were concentrated and presented a map of its distribution. We found correlations among endemism, climate stability, elevation, and marginality, which supported the plateau/valley, core/peripheral, and stable/unstable hypotheses. No association between soil fertility and endemism was detected. We propose that plateaus are more stable climatic environments, and this characteristic along with their elevation and centrality are predictive of endemism. Main conclusions: We concluded that most of the endemism is concentrated in overlapping areas of stability of species, which are concentrated in higher elevation central regions. Soil fertility was not linked to endemism. We recommend that central plateaus in the Cerrado require special attention in conservation to optimize the protection of endemic species in the biome.
Data from: Insect herbivory in novel Quercus ilex L. forests: the role of landscape attributes, forest composition and host traits
<p><b><i>Context</i></b> Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of herbivory in novel expanding forests is essential to envisage their role for biodiversity conservation.</p> <p><b><i>Aims</i></b>: To analyze the effects of landscape attributes, forest composition, genetic relatedness, ontogeny and leaf traits on insect herbivory in novel <i>Q. ilex</i> forest stands.</p> <p><b><i>Methods: </i></b>In 15 forest patches, we examined effects of patch size and connectivity, forest composition, and tree height, specific leaf area (SLA) and nitrogen content on herbivory. In 3 forest patches, we assessed effects of tree genetic relatedness, ontogeny and spatial distribution.</p> <p><b><i>Results</i></b>: Herbivory was lower in pine-oak than in mixed-oak forests owing to the shorter tree height in the former with no effects of patch size or connectivity. Herbivory increased with SLA whereas nitrogen content had no effect. Within patches, herbivory differed among genetic clusters and was reduced in saplings growing near mature oaks and individuals near the forest edge. </p> <p><b><i>Conclusion </i></b>We illustrate the strong context and scale dependence of tree-herbivore interactions that renders predictions for dynamic systems such as novel oak forests extremely challenging. It implies, however, that the structural heterogeneity of such unmanaged forests allows their function as stepping stones for insect herbivore diversity in fragmented landscapes.</p>
Geographic drivers more important than landscape composition in predicting bee beta diversity and community structure
<p>The importance of microhabitat traits such as floral availability is well known; however, forest bee spatial dynamics have been variably studied across local to broad geographic scales. Past literature suggests that landscape factors from proximate to distal are important in determining forest bee community metrics, including richness, abundance, and taxonomic composition. Leveraging the interest and assistance of citizen science volunteers, we employed standard bee bowl trap transects across Maryland, Delaware, northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia and identified correlations between bee community composition, local and regional landcover, and broader geospatial patterns. We also identified the partial contributions of both specific species and sampling sites to total beta diversity. Various landcover metrics were significantly related to bee community structure, with bee abundance positively and negatively correlated with forest and wetland cover, respectively. In general, land cover metrics within a 1,000-m buffer exhibited stronger correlations with bee communities; however, broader geographic variation, using Cartesian coordinates north and east as indices, was most significantly correlated with the bee community. Specifically, bee communities were less rich to the east and south of the study area. We also identified similar correlations with the bee community as categorized both by trophic and nesting behaviors, with both geographic northing and easting proving to be most strongly correlated with the forest bee community. Results of beta diversity and cluster analyses showed that the most species-depauperate sites exhibited the highest contributions to beta diversity and that species-poor sites consisted of a reduced subset of the greater community. Our results show that successful bee conservation must consider, beyond local-scale resource availability, broad geospatial considerations and forest habitat connectivity across political and administrative boundaries.</p>
Changes in arthropod communities mediate the effects of landscape composition and farm management on pest control ecosystem services in organically managed strawberry crops
<p>Landscape composition and local diversification practices such as polyculture, cover cropping, and hedgerows may promote natural pest control by benefiting natural enemy communities on farms. Our study employs piecewise structural equation modeling (PSEM) to test causal hypotheses regarding the effects of landscape composition and local diversification practices on arthropod communities and pest control ecosystem services.</p> <p>We sampled 27 organic strawberry fields in California's Central Coast region in 2015 and 2016 (17 repeated between years) for a total of 37 distinct sites across years. The sites were selected along orthogonal gradients of landscape composition and local diversification practices. We also investigated the effects of two common pest management practices. At each site, we sampled arthropod communities using a hand-held vacuum and performed sentinel prey experiments using the pest species <em>Lygus hesperus</em> to estimate pest control levels.</p> <p>At the landscape scale, proportion woods increased natural enemy abundance; at the local scale, diversification practices increased natural enemy diversity.</p> <p>Insecticides and tractor vacuuming, aimed at controlling pests, were indirectly detrimental to pest control services. Both practices decreased natural enemy abundance, and while insecticides also decreased pest abundance, vacuuming did not.</p> <p>Natural enemy abundance and diversity increased pest control levels, while pest abundance had the opposite effect. The PSEM results confirmed our hypotheses that landscape and local effects on pest control are mediated through changes in arthropod communities.</p> <p><em><a>Synthesis </a>and applications</em>: At the landscape scale, higher proportions of woody habitat are associated with greater natural enemy abundance, which increases pest control levels. When promoting pest control ecosystem services is a policy goal, regional planners should prioritize the conservation and restoration of woodlands in agricultural landscapes. At the local scale, decisions of individual growers can impact pest control services. For many growers, adopting practices that promote on-farm plant diversity may be a feasible solution for increasing pest control levels while avoiding the environmental and economic costs imposed by insecticide application and tractor <a>vacuuming. </a></p> <div> <div> <div class="msocomtxt"> <p class="MsoCommentText"> </p> </div> </div> </div>
Data from: Ant community composition and functional traits in newly established grasslands within agricultural landscapes
<p>Ongoing intensification and fragmentation of European agricultural landscapes dramatically reduce biodiversity and associated functions. Enhancing perennial non-crop areas holds great potential to support ecosystem services such as ant mediated pest control.</p> <p>To study the potential of newly established grassland strips to enhance ant diversity and associated functions, we used hand collection data and predation experiments to investigate differences in (a) ant community composition (b) biocontrol related functional traits, and (c) natural pest control across habitats in cereal fields, old grasslands, and new grassland transects of three years age. </p> <p>Whilst all data regarding biocontrol related functional traits of ant species (b) are available within the publication and its supporting information files, we provide here our raw data of ant species activity and diversity surveys (a) and further the results of sticky card experiments as a proxy for biocontrol potential (c).</p>
Ungulate herbivores as drivers of Aspen recruitment and understory composition throughout arid Montane landscapes
Herbivory by wild and domestic ungulates can influence tree recruitment and understory forest communities throughout the world. Herbivore-driven declines in tree recruitment have been observed for quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), a foundation species whose health and management is recognized as a critical priority throughout much of its range. Livestock fencing is commonly used to promote aspen regeneration, but its effectiveness is rarely assessed, especially across large spatial scales. Using a livestock-reduction experiment, we evaluated the effects of ungulate herbivory on aspen in the Great Basin and southern Cascades, an expansive and environmentally heterogeneous region where aspen faces the interacting threats of climate change, conifer encroachment, and herbivory. We found that livestock fencing only reduced the intensity of herbivore browsing on aspen when wild ungulate abundance was low, and did not increase stem densities of aspen recruits. Contrary to expectations, wild ungulate abundance was a strong driver of browsing intensity on juvenile aspen within fenced, but not unfenced aspen stands, and when the abundance of these herbivores was high, browsing intensity in fenced stands exceeded that in unfenced stands. The density of aspen recruits decreased with browsing intensity on juvenile aspen and with the density of both adult aspen and conifers, suggesting that both herbivory and intra- and interspecific competition are important drivers of recruitment. Fire history was also an important driver of recruitment, with stands that burned 10-20 years ago having the greatest density of aspen recruits. Finally, in the stand understory, we found that livestock fencing decreased forb cover, increased shrub species richness, and increased the cover of exotic annual grasses, a group dominated by Bromus tectorum. This latter finding suggests that livestock fencing may not be appropriate in areas where controlling the spread of this invader is a priority. In sum, our findings indicate that aspen recruitment is limited by browsing by both wild and domestic ungulates, is mediated by competition with neighboring trees and fire history, and will require management actions beyond livestock fencing, as this approach does not control browsing by wild ungulates.
Data for: Temperature and not landscape composition shapes wild bee communities in an urban environment
<p>Data for: Temperature and not landscape composition shapes wild bee communities in an urban environment. This dataset was obtained surveying wild bees using pan-traps in the metropolitan city of Rome in 2016.</p>
Data from: Differences in epiphyte biomass and community composition along landscape and within-crown spatial scales
<p>Vascular epiphytes contribute to the structural, compositional, and functional complexity of tropical montane cloud forests because of their high biomass, diversity, and ability to intercept and retain water and nutrients from atmospheric sources. However, human-caused climate change and forest-to-pasture conversion are rapidly altering tropical montane cloud forests. Epiphyte communities may be particularly vulnerable to these changes because of their dependence on direct atmospheric inputs and host trees for survival. In Monteverde, Costa Rica, we measured vascular epiphyte biomass, community composition, and richness at two spatial scales: (1) along an elevation gradient spanning premontane forests to montane cloud forests; and (2) within trees along branches from inner to outer crown positions. We also compared epiphyte biomass and distribution at these scales between two different land-cover types, comparing trees in closed canopy forest to isolated trees in pastures. An ordination of epiphyte communities at the level of trees grouped forested sites above versus below the cloud base, and separated forest versus pasture trees. Species richness increased with increasing elevation and decreased from inner to outer branch positions. Although richness did not differ between land-cover types, there were significant differences in community composition. The variability in epiphyte community organization between the two spatial scales and between land-cover types underscores the potential complexity of epiphyte responses to climate and land-cover changes.</p>
Is the age of plant communities predicted by the age, stability and soil composition of the underlying landscapes? An investigation of OCBILs
<p></p><p>Old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (OCBILs) have been hypothesized to harbour an elevated number of persistent plant lineages and are predicted to occur across different parts of the globe, interspersed with other types of landscapes. We tested whether the mean age of a plant community is associated with occurrence on OCBILs, as predicted by climatic stability and poor soil environments. Using digitized occurrence data for seed plants occurring in Australia (7033 species), sub-Saharan Africa (3990 species) and South America (44 482 species), regions that comprise commonly investigated OCBILs (Southwestern Australian Floristic Region, Greater Cape Floristic Region and campos rupestres), and phylogenies pruned to match the species occurrences, we tested for associations between environmental data (current climate, soil composition, elevation and climatic stability) and two novel metrics developed here that capture the age of a community (mean tip length and mean node height). Our results indicate that plant community ages are influenced by a combination of multiple environmental predictors that vary globally; we did not find statistically strong associations between the environments of OCBIL areas and community age, in contrast to the prediction for these landscapes. The Cape Floristic Region was the only OCBIL that showed a significant, although not strong, overlap with old communities.</p><p></p>
Data for: Phenotypic outcomes of predator-prey coevolution are predicted by landscape variation in climate and community composition
<ol> <li>Landscape patterns of phenotypic coevolution are determined by variation in the outcome of predator-prey interactions. These outcomes may depend not only on the functional phenotypes that mediate species interactions but also on aspects of the environment that enable encounters between coevolutionary partners.</li> <li>Exploring the relationship between coevolutionary traits and the environment requires extensive sampling across the range of the interaction to determine the relationship between local ecological variation and coevolution.</li> <li>In this study, we synthesized >30 years of data on predator-prey interactions between toxic newts (<em>Taricha</em> <em>granulosa</em>) and their snake predators (<em>Thamnophis</em> <em>sirtalis</em>) to explore the environmental predictors of arms race escalation.</li> <li>We found that geographic variation in phenotypes at the interface of coevolution was best predicted by a combination of community and climatic variation. Coevolutionary phenotypes were greatest in environments with climate favorable for newt-snake overlap. We found prey toxicity was elevated in regions with more predator species, and predator resistance was higher in regions with more prey species.</li> <li>Our results suggest specific environmental conditions reinforce the process of coevolution, signifying the phenotypic outcomes of coevolutionary arms races are sensitive to local ecological contexts that vary across the landscape. </li> </ol>
Geographic drivers more important than landscape composition in predicting bee beta diversity and community structure
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Data from: Impacts of landscape composition, marginality of distribution, soil fertility, and climatic stability on the patterns of woody plant endemism in the Cerrado
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Local and landscape-scale environmental filters drive the functional diversity and taxonomic composition of spiders across urban greenspaces
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