Historical decrease in agricultural landscape diversity is associated with shifts in bumble bee species occurrence

SUMMARYAssessment of the suitability of anthropogenic landscapes for wildlife species is crucial for setting priorities for biodiversity conservation. This study aimed to analyse the environmental suitability of a highly fragmented region of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, one of the world's 25 recognized biodiversity hotspots, for forest bird species. Eight forest bird species were selected for the analyses, based on point counts (n = 122) conducted in April–September 2006 and January–March 2009. Six additional variables (landscape diversity, distance from forest and streams, aspect, elevation and slope) were modelled in Maxent for (1) actual and (2) simulated land cover, based on the forest expansion required by existing Brazilian forest legislation. Models were evaluated by bootstrap or jackknife methods and their performance was assessed by AUC, omission error, binomial probability or p value. All predictive models were statistically significant, with high AUC values and low omission errors. A small proportion of the actual landscape (24.41 ± 6.31%) was suitable for forest bird species. The simulated landscapes lead to an increase of c.30% in total suitable areas. In average, models predicted a small increase (23.69 ± 6.95%) in the area of suitable native forest for bird species. Being close to forest increased the environmental suitability of landscapes for all bird species; landscape diversity was also a significant factor for some species. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that species distribution modelling (SDM) successfully predicted bird distribution across a heterogeneous landscape at fine spatial resolution, as all models were biologically relevant and statistically significant. The use of landscape variables as predictors contributed significantly to the results, particularly for species distributions over small extents and at fine scales. This is the first study to evaluate the environmental suitability of the remaining Brazilian Atlantic Forest for bird species in an agricultural landscape, and provides important additional data for regional environmental planning.

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Bumble bee pollination of the sticky catchfly in a fragmented agricultural landscape

Ecoscience ◽

10.1080/11956860.2000.11682584 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 157-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Anders Nielsen ◽

Rolf Anker Ims

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Landscape ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Bee Pollination

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The influence of agricultural landscape diversity on biological diversity

Multifunctional Land Use ◽

10.1007/978-3-540-36763-5_8 ◽

2007 ◽

pp. 125-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lech Ryszkowski ◽

Jerzy Karg

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Landscape ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Landscape Diversity

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Assessment of the European Common Agricultural Policy and landscape changes: an example from Slovenia

Agricultural Economics (Zemědělská ekonomika) ◽

10.17221/337/2017-agricecon ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 64 (No. 11) ◽

pp. 489-498 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marko OGOREVC ◽

Renata SLABE-ERKER

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Policy ◽

Common Agricultural Policy ◽

Agricultural Landscape ◽

Shannon Index ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

Landscape Diversity ◽

Spatial Lag Model ◽

Lag Model ◽

Direct Payments ◽

Negative Impacts

The objective of this study was to determine whether and to what extent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) measures actually succeed in preserving the diversity of agricultural landscapes. This paper assesses the effects of agricultural policy on changes in the diversity of agricultural landscapes in Slovenia. Diversity is measured by the Shannon index and the Simpson index, while the impacts were estimated using a spatial lag model. The results show that direct payments decrease landscape diversity by 2 index points per 1 000 EUR/ha, but agri-environmental payments for reducing negative impacts on the environment and those for nature conservation increase agricultural landscape diversity by 2.8 index points and 12.30 index points per 1 000 EUR/ha, respectively. Furthermore, we did not find any statistically significant effects of habitat protection payments on landscape diversity. Since direct payments are almost four times larger on average as agri-environmental payments, they preserve landscape diversity only to a limited extent.

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Effects of land use and weather on the presence and abundance of mosquito-borne disease vectors in a urban and agricultural landscape in Eastern Ontario, Canada

10.1101/2021.12.26.474201 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Miarisoa Rindra Rakotoarinia ◽

Blanchet F. Guillaume ◽

Dominique Gravel ◽

David Lapen ◽

Patrick A. Leighton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Agricultural Landscape ◽

Mosquito Species ◽

Control Measures ◽

Targeted Prevention ◽

Species Occurrence ◽

Mosquito Abundance ◽

Species Response ◽

Wide Range ◽

Eastern Ontario

Weather and land use can significantly impact mosquito abundance and presence, and by consequence, mosquito-borne disease (MBD) dynamics. Knowledge of vector ecology and mosquito species response to these drivers will help us better predict risk from MBD. In this study, we evaluated and compared the independent and combined effects of weather and land use on mosquito species occurrence and abundance in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Data on occurrence and abundance (245,591 individuals) of 30 mosquito species were obtained from mosquito capture at 85 field sites in 2017 and 2018. Environmental variables were extracted from weather and land use datasets in a 1-km buffer around trapping sites. The relative importance of weather and land use on mosquito abundance (for common species) or occurrence (for all species) was evaluated using multivariate hierarchical statistical models. Models incorporating both weather and land use performed better than models that include weather only for approximately half of species (59% for occurrence model and 50% for abundance model). Mosquito occurrence was mainly associated with temperature whereas abundance was associated with precipitation and temperature combined. Land use was more often associated with abundance than occurrence. For most species, occurrence and abundance were positively associated with forest cover but for some there was a negative association. Occurrence and abundance of some species (47% for occurrence model and 88% for abundance model) were positively associated with wetlands, but negatively associated with urban ( Culiseta melanura and Anopheles walkeri ) and agriculture ( An. quadrimaculatus, Cs. minnesotae and An. walkeri ) environments. This study provides predictive relationships between weather, land use and mosquito occurrence and abundance for a wide range of species including those that are currently uncommon, yet known as arboviruses vectors. Elucidation of these relationships has the potential to contribute to better prediction of MBD risk, and thus more efficiently targeted prevention and control measures.

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