scholarly journals Landscape effects on anuran pond occupancy in an agricultural countryside: barrier-based buffers predict distributions better than circular buffers

2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (7) ◽  
pp. 692-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Zanini ◽  
Anna Klingemann ◽  
Rodolphe Schlaepfer ◽  
Benedikt R. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Animal Movement ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Landscape Permeability ◽  
Patch Occupancy ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Landscape Variables ◽  
Circular Buffer ◽  
Ecological Barriers ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Better Than

Species movement and occupancy of habitat patches are dependent on landscape permeability. Some land-use types (e.g., roads) may be barriers to animal movement. Analyses of the effect of landscape structure on patch occupancy usually use circular buffers around focal patches. The main assumption of this methodological approach is that species are affected by a particular landscape element equally in every direction from a given patch. This assumption is likely not to hold if animal movement is restricted by barriers because barriers reduce movement patterns and reshape the ideal circular buffer into a noncircular buffer. We developed a method to determine the effect of landscape variables on the distribution of two amphibian species that explicitly takes dispersal barriers into account. We extracted landscape variables within (i) circular buffers (CB) and (ii) barrier-based buffers (BBB). BBB were produced by reducing the boundaries of CB according to major impassable barriers. The BBB approach almost doubled the explained deviance of multiple regression models in comparison with the CB approach. Moreover, CB and BBB models included different predictor variables. We suggest that the BBB approach is more useful than the traditional CB analyses of species–habitat relationships because ecological barriers are explicitly taken into account.

Impact of landscape pattern change on runoff processes in catchment area of the Ulungur River Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 1046-1058
Author(s):  
Fan Gao ◽  
Bing He ◽  
Songsong Xue ◽  
Yizhen Li
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Landscape Pattern ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Monthly Runoff ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, the monthly runoff processes of two land-use types in 2000 and 2015 were simulated in this paper. The relationship between runoff and landscape pattern was analyzed, and the spatial correlation between runoff and landscape pattern analyzed using the geographic weighted regression model combined with the change of landscape pattern in the study area from 2000 to 2015. The results show the following. (1) The SWAT model can simulate the monthly runoff processes in the catchment area of the Ulungur River Basin (URB) under different land-use types for 2000 and 2015, but the simulation effect in 2000 was found to be better than that in 2015. (2) From 2000 to 2015, the area of woodland and grassland decreased. Runoff was positively correlated with woodland, grassland, largest patch index, mean patch area (AREA_MN), and contagion index, and negatively correlated with others. This indicates that the landscape fragmentation of URB was aggravated in 2000–2015, the landscape balance was destroyed, and the ability of rainfall interception and water conservation was weakened. (3) Landscape pattern indicators of grassland had a negative spatial impact on URB runoff, and the northern region of URB was more severely affected in 2015 than in 2000. AREA_MN landscape pattern index had a positive impact on runoff in the northern part of URB, and the positive impact in northern URB in 2000 was better than that in 2015.

scholarly journals Impact of Rapid Urbanization on Vulnerability of Land System from Complex Networks View: A Methodological Approach

Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Wang ◽  
Xiangmei Li ◽  
Jiangfeng Li ◽  
Zhengdong Huang ◽  
Renbin Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Complex Networks ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Urban Land ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Wuhan City ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Land System ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Land Systems

Rapid urbanization is responsible for the increased vulnerability of land systems and the loss of many crucial ecosystem services. Land systems are typical complex systems comprised of different land use types which interact with each other and respond to external environment processes (such as urbanization), resulting in dynamics in land systems. This work develops a methodology approach by integrating complex networks and disruptive scenarios and applies it to a case study area (Wuhan City in China) to explore the effects of urbanization on land system structural vulnerability. The land system network topologies of Wuhan City during five time periods from 1990 to 2015 are extracted. Our results reveal that (1) the urban land expands at a higher speed than the urban population in Wuhan City; (2) the period of 2005–2010 has witnessed more land area conversions from ecological lands to urban land than other periods; (3) the land system is more vulnerable to intentional attacks on nodes with higher integrated node centrality and larger land area, such as paddy, dryland, and lake; and (4) the network efficiency of the land system would decline sharply if the area shrinkage of paddy, dryland, and lake is larger than 30%, 50%, and 20%, respectively. The results provide some insights into building a resilient urban land system, such as increasing the efficiency of existing urban land and controlling the shrinkage rate of important land use types. This study contributes to existing literature on complex networks by expanding its application in land systems, which highlight the potential of complex networks to capture the complexity, dynamics, heterogeneity, and emergent phenomena in land systems.

scholarly journals Accounting for animal movement improves vaccination strategies against wildlife disease in heterogeneous landscapes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine M McClure ◽  
Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau ◽  
Amy J Davis ◽  
Carolyn A Stengel ◽  
Kathleen Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Movement Ecology ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Preferred Habitat ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Oral Rabies Vaccine ◽  
Better Than

Oral baiting is used to deliver vaccines to wildlife to prevent, control, and eliminate infectious diseases. A central challenge is how to spatially distribute baits to maximize encounters by target animal populations, particularly in urban and suburban areas where wildlife like raccoons (Procyon lotor) are abundant and baits are delivered along roads. Methods from movement ecology that quantify movement and habitat selection could help to optimize baiting strategies by more effectively targeting wildlife populations across space. We developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model of raccoon movement and oral rabies vaccine seroconversion to examine whether and when baiting strategies that match raccoon movement patterns perform better than currently employed baiting strategies in an oral rabies vaccination zone in greater Burlington, Vermont, USA. Habitat selection patterns estimated from locally radio-collared raccoons were used to parameterize movement simulations. We then used our simulations to estimate raccoon population rabies seroprevalence under currently used baiting strategies (actual baiting) relative to habitat selection-based baiting strategies (habitat baiting). We conducted simulations on the Burlington landscape and artificial landscapes that varied in heterogeneity relative to Burlington in the proportion and patch size of preferred habitats. We found that the benefits of habitat baiting strongly depended on the magnitude and variability of raccoon habitat selection and the degree of landscape heterogeneity within the baiting area. Habitat baiting improved seroprevalence over actual baiting for raccoons characterized as habitat specialists but not for raccoons that displayed weak habitat selection similar to radio-collared individuals - except when baits were delivered off roads where preferred habitat coverage and complexity was more pronounced. In contrast, in artificial landscapes with either more strongly juxtaposed favored habitats and/or higher proportions of favored habitats, habitat baiting performed better than actual baiting, even when raccoons displayed weak habitat preferences and where baiting was constrained to roads. Our results suggest that habitat selection-based baiting could increase raccoon population seroprevalence in urban-suburban areas, where practical, given the heterogeneity and availability of preferred habitat types in those areas. Our novel simulation approach provides a flexible framework to test alternative baiting strategies in multiclass landscapes to optimize bait distribution strategies.

scholarly journals Fragment shape and size, landscape permeability and fragmentation level as predictors of primate occupancy in a region of Brazilian Cerrado

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. e48339
Author(s):  
Thallita Oliveira Grande ◽  
Raony Macedo Alencar ◽  
Paulo Pinheiro Ribeiro ◽  
Fabiano Rodrigues Melo
Keyword(s):  
Patch Size ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Landscape Permeability ◽  
Patch Occupancy ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Central Brazil ◽  
Matrix Permeability ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Density Patch

Human activities result in the formation of a mosaic of forest patches within a non-habitat matrix. The response of the local biodiversity to changes in land-use may occur at different scales. It is important to evaluate the effects of the attributes of both the patches and the surrounding landscape on the occupancy of forest patches by animal populations. Here, we assessed the predictive potential of local (basal area, tree density), patch (size, shape) and landscape scale (total area of forest, number of patches, matrix permeability, patch proximity) variables on the occupancy of forest patches by the syntopic primates Alouatta caraya, Sapajus libidinosus and Callithrix penicillata in the city of Goiânia in the Cerrado region of central Brazil. We used playback to survey primate populations in 22 focal patches and assessed the landscape within a 1000 m buffer zone around each site. In A. caraya, occupancy was influenced by the shape of the focal patches, the amount of forest and fragmentation level of the landscape. Focal patch size and the permeability of the matrix were the principal determinants of the occupancy of S. libidinosus. None of the predictors influenced patch occupancy in C. penicillata, and the structure of the vegetation did not influence occupancy in any of the species. The preservation of as many forest patches as possible, both large and small, as well as gallery forests, and the enhancement of matrix permeability will be essential for the long-term conservation of the syntopic primates of the Cerrado of central Brazil.

Rethinking the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis: Modeling the Linguistic Threshold among young Spanish–English Bilinguals

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-902
Author(s):  
ERIKA FEINAUER ◽  
KENDRA M. HALL-KENYON ◽  
KIMBERLEE C. EVERSON
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Change Point ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Discontinuous Change ◽  
Linear Interaction ◽  
Interaction Models ◽  
Better Than

This study uses a discontinuous-linear regression methodological approach to test the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis (LTH). Specifically, we investigate the following hypotheses: (1) the rate of transfer of literacy skills from L1 to L2 is a function of L2 oral language ability, (2) the rate of transfer from L1 to L2 accelerates when students cross a specified threshold(s) of L2 language oral ability, and (3) discontinuous change-point regression models fit the data better than linear regression interaction models. Across literacy skills, discontinuous change-point regression models revealed levels of L2 oral language at which transfer from L1 to L2 literacy was maximized, suggesting that the relationship between L2 language and cross-linguistic transfer is not constant for the young Spanish–English bilinguals in our study. Further, discontinuous change-point regression models fit the data better than linear interaction models, suggesting the importance of using models that better match the theoretical assumptions underpinning the LTH.

scholarly journals Contextual-pandemic adaptation of pedagogical practice in the online environment. Modern guidelines in the professional training of teachers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelina Gorobeț ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
The Future ◽  
Teacher Training Programs ◽  
Better Than

The reflections of this article goal at the professionalization of the teaching career, which is one of the objectives aimed at the quality of education. The current socio-economic dynamics and complexity require continuous adaptability from teachers. They are put in the situation to periodically develop their professional skills, in order to meet both the the updated students’ educational needs, as well as the scientific innovations that result from the research in various fields. An interesting aspect is related to the needs and challenges of teachers in conditions of pandemic coronavirus (SARS CoV-2). The new conditions have imposed the transition of pedagogical practice in the online environment, an alternative adopted in many teacher training programs. As this decision was considered better than a temporary withdrawal from practice, students and their mentors had to adapt. For the future we have another certainty, that the pandemic will not stop very soon. Otherwise, the future is a matter of probability. The topicality of the topic researched in this article lists the professional training, taking into account the endowment of teachers with the necessary skills so that they feel comfortable in all situations that may arise during their teaching activities. Dynamism, flexibility, receptivity to the new and critical reflection on curricular requirements and methodological approach define the modern teaching profession.

A Wider View of the Relationship between Settlement Size and Population in the Peruvian Andes

1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Kvamme
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Power Functions ◽  
Weak Correlation ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Settlement Size ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Better Than

Although the relationship between settled area and population size has been well studied in archaeology, anthropology, and geography, with numerous empirical data sets, an established methodological approach, and a body of theory, Schreiber and Kintigh's (1996) analysis of archaeological and historical data from the Peruvian Andes found “only a weak correlation” between these variables. By employing double logarithmic data, the relationship is shown to be much better than the “surprisingly poor” one the raw data suggests. Regression analysis of these Peruvian data in logarithmic form yields power functions that conform closely with expectations derived from a body of settlement size theory based on the allometric principle.

scholarly journals The influence of system settings on positioning accuracy in acoustic telemetry, using the YAPS algorithm.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna Vergeynst ◽  
Henrik Baktoft ◽  
Ans Mouton ◽  
Tom De Mulder ◽  
Ingmar Nopens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Movement ◽  
Random Sequence ◽  
Interval Data ◽  
Positioning Accuracy ◽  
System Parameters ◽  
Study Results ◽  
On Line ◽  
Positioning Algorithm ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Large Burst

Abstract Background: Acoustic positioning telemetry allows to collect large amounts of data on the movement of aquatic animals by use of autonomous receiver stations. Essential in this process is the conversion from raw signal detections to reliable positions. A new advancement in the domain is YAPS (Yet Another Positioning Solver), which combines the detection data on the receivers with a model of animal movement. This transparent, flexible and on-line available positioning algorithm overcomes problems related to traditional point-by-point positioning and filtering techniques. However, its performance has only been tested on data from one telemetry system, providing transmitters with stable burst interval. To investigate the performance of YAPS on different system parameters and settings, we conducted a simulation study. Results: This paper discusses the effect of varying burst types, burst intervals, number of observations, reflectivity levels of the environment, levels of out-of-array positioning and temporal receiver resolution on positioning accuracy. We found that a receiver resolution better than 1 ms is required for accurate fine-scale positioning. The positioning accuracy of YAPS increases with decreasing burst intervals, especially when the number of observations is low, when reflectivity is high or when information out-of-array is used. However, when the burst interval is stable, large burst intervals (in the order of 1 to 2 minutes) can be chosen without strongly hampering the accuracy (although this results in information loss). With random burst intervals, the accuracy can be much improved if the random sequence is known. Conclusions: As it turns out, the key to accurate positioning is the burst type. If a stable burst interval is not possible, the availability of the random sequence improves the positioning of random burst interval data significantly.

scholarly journals THE COMPOSTELLAN DEVOTION AND THE MICHAELIC ONE ALONG THE SHEEP TRACKS: THE CASTEL DI SANGRO – LUCERA CASE IN SOUTHERN ITALY

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-98
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Santiago De Compostela ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Architectural Structures ◽  
Alternative Routes ◽  
Better Than

The following paper wants to explain in a generic way the importance of two sacred and charismatic medieval characters such as Saint James the Greater from Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Saint Michael Archangel from Monte Sant’Angelo in the South of Italy, through their main icons, the devotions, the anthropological approaches and the history of the pilgrimages that have called so many people in their own cities. Santiago de Compostela and Monte Sant’Angelo were two of the most important places in the Middle Age. The representation of the saints and their actions, which are described in ancient literary texts, explains the origin of the cults and the following development of the pilgrimages both through the main routes and through the alternative routes known as “tratturi” or sheep tracks. Especially for the Castel di Sangro – Lucera sheep track there are traces referred to the saints not only in the villages touched by the grassy track, but also on the path itself. There are aspects that are expressed better than others and they are essential for the important “Civilization of Pilgrimages” as the icons and the architectural structures: they can be defined as functional artistic ways to communicate to all people not only in the past. So, historical and artistic studies, but also anthropological and literature fields of study are the relevant methodological approach to better figure out the history of the compostellan and michaelic pilgrimages.

Corrigendum to: Incorporating movement patterns to discern habitat selection: black bears as a case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 359
Author(s):  
Dana L. Karelus ◽  
J. Walter McCown ◽  
Brian K. Scheick ◽  
Madelon van de Kerk ◽  
Benjamin M. Bolker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Markov Models ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Forested Wetlands ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Extrinsic Factors

Context Animals' use of space and habitat selection emerges from their movement patterns, which are, in turn, determined by their behavioural or physiological states and extrinsic factors. Aim The aims of the present study were to investigate animal movement and incorporate the movement patterns into habitat selection analyses using Global Positioning System (GPS) location data from 16 black bears (Ursus americanus) in a fragmented area of Florida, USA. Methods Hidden Markov models (HMMs) were used to discern the movement patterns of the bears. These results were then used in step-selection functions (SSFs) to evaluate habitat selection patterns and the factors influencing these patterns. Key results HMMs revealed that black bear movement patterns are best described by three behavioural states: (1) resting (very short step-lengths and large turning angles); (2) encamped (moderate step-lengths and large turning angles); and (3) exploratory (long step-lengths and small turning angles). Bears selected for forested wetlands and marsh wetlands more than any other land cover type, and generally avoided urban areas in all seasons and when in encamped and exploratory behavioural states. Bears also chose to move to locations farther away from major roads. Conclusions Because habitat selection is influenced by how animals move within landscapes, it is essential to consider animals' movement patterns when making inferences about habitat selection. The present study achieves this goal by using HMMs to first discern black bear movement patterns and associated parameters, and by using these results in SSFs to investigate habitat selection patterns. Thus, the methodological framework developed in this study effectively incorporates state-specific movement patterns while making inferences regarding habitat selection. The unified methodological approach employed here will contribute to an improved understanding of animal ecology as well as informed management decisions. Implications Conservation plans focused on preserving forested wetlands would benefit bears by not only providing habitat for resting and foraging, but also by providing connectivity through fragmented landscapes. Additionally, the framework could be applied to species that follow annual cycles and may provide a tool for investigating how animals are using dispersal corridors.

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