scholarly journals Landscape heterogeneity rather than crop diversity mediates bird diversity in agricultural landscapes

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. e0200438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Redlich ◽  
Emily A. Martin ◽  
Beate Wende ◽  
Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Crop Diversity ◽  
Bird Diversity

scholarly journals Ecological Connectivity in Agricultural Green Infrastructure:  Suggested Criteria for Fine Scale Assessment and Planning

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 807
Author(s):  
Simone Valeri ◽  
Laura Zavattero ◽  
Giulia Capotorti
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Spatial Pattern Analysis ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Unique Type

In promoting biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service capacity, landscape connectivity is considered a critical feature to counteract the negative effects of fragmentation. Under a Green Infrastructure (GI) perspective, this is especially true in rural and peri-urban areas where a high degree of connectivity may be associated with the enhancement of agriculture multifunctionality and sustainability. With respect to GI planning and connectivity assessment, the role of dispersal traits of tree species is gaining increasing attention. However, little evidence is available on how to select plant species to be primarily favored, as well as on the role of landscape heterogeneity and habitat quality in driving the dispersal success. The present work is aimed at suggesting a methodological approach for addressing these knowledge gaps, at fine scales and for peri-urban agricultural landscapes, by means of a case study in the Metropolitan City of Rome. The study area was stratified into Environmental Units, each supporting a unique type of Potential Natural Vegetation (PNV), and a multi-step procedure was designed for setting priorities aimed at enhancing connectivity. First, GI components were defined based on the selection of the target species to be supported, on a fine scale land cover mapping and on the assessment of land cover type naturalness. Second, the study area was characterized by a Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) and connectivity was assessed by Number of Components (NC) and functional connectivity metrics. Third, conservation and restoration measures have been prioritized and statistically validated. Notwithstanding the recognized limits, the approach proved to be functional in the considered context and at the adopted level of detail. Therefore, it could give useful methodological hints for the requalification of transitional urban–rural areas and for the achievement of related sustainable development goals in metropolitan regions.

Contrasting effects of host crops and crop diversity on the abundance and parasitism of a specialist herbivore in agricultural landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1073-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Kheirodin ◽  
Héctor A. Cárcamo ◽  
Alejandro C. Costamagna
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Crop Diversity ◽  
Specialist Herbivore

Crop diversity increases predator abundance but not predation on cereal leaf beetles in agricultural landscapes

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Kheirodin ◽  
Héctor A. Cárcamo ◽  
Barbara J. Sharanowski ◽  
Alejandro C. Costamagna
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Crop Diversity ◽  
Leaf Beetles ◽  
Predator Abundance

scholarly journals Landscape epidemiology of plant diseases

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (16) ◽  
pp. 963-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Plantegenest ◽  
Christophe Le May ◽  
Frédéric Fabre
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Ecology ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Landscape Epidemiology ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Pathogen Dynamics ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Inoculum Pressure

Many agricultural landscapes are characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity and fragmentation. Landscape ecology focuses on the influence of habitat heterogeneity in space and time on ecological processes. Landscape epidemiology aims at applying concepts and approaches originating from landscape ecology to the study of pathogen dynamics at the landscape scale. However, despite the strong influence that the landscape properties may have on the spread of plant diseases, landscape epidemiology has still received little attention from plant pathologists. Some recent methodological and technological progress provides new and powerful tools to describe and analyse the spatial patterns of host–pathogen interactions. Here, we review some important topics in plant pathology that may benefit from a landscape perspective. These include the influence of: landscape composition on the global inoculum pressure; landscape heterogeneity on pathogen dynamics; landscape structure on pathogen dispersal; and landscape properties on the emergence of pathogens and on their evolution.

scholarly journals Structure Analysis of Hedgerows With Respect to Perennial Landscape Lines in Two Contrasting French Agricultural Landscapes

2019 ◽  
pp. 1278-1299
Author(s):  
Sébastien Da Silva ◽  
Florence Le Ber ◽  
Claire Lavigne
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Structure Analysis ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Spatial Extent ◽  
Association Patterns ◽  
Landscape Elements ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Linear Landscape Elements

Characterizing the spatial distribution of hedgerows over landscapes is important for understanding the effects of this distribution on the dynamics of plant and animal populations. Because hedgerows are planted or managed, the authors hypothesized that their distribution depends on the presence of other linear landscape elements, namely, roads and channels. Using proximity analyses, the authors thus assessed how the spatial distribution of hedgerows was impacted by the position of these linear landscape elements and the spatial extent of this impact for two contrasting agricultural landscapes. The results indicate that hedgerows were generally associated at short distances with other elements (100-150 m). Hedgerows had different association patterns depending on their orientation in one of the two landscapes. In that same landscape, within-landscape heterogeneity was related to different association patterns. These results indicate that models of the spatial distribution of hedgerows would gain from being based on the location of roads and channels in the studied landscape.

Functional landscape heterogeneity and animal biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenore Fahrig ◽  
Jacques Baudry ◽  
Lluís Brotons ◽  
Françoise G. Burel ◽  
Thomas O. Crist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes

scholarly journals Pasture area and landscape heterogeneity are key determinants of bird diversity in intensively managed farmland

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2649-2667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Cerezo ◽  
María Cecilia Conde ◽  
Santiago L. Poggio
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Bird Diversity ◽  
Intensively Managed ◽  
Pasture Area

scholarly journals Amphibian Metacommunity Responses to Agricultural Intensification in a Mediterranean Landscape

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 924
Author(s):  
Luis Albero ◽  
Íñigo Martínez-Solano ◽  
Ana Arias ◽  
Miguel Lizana ◽  
Eloy Bécares
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽  
Irrigated Area ◽  
Amphibian Communities

Agricultural intensification has been associated with biodiversity declines, habitat fragmentation and loss in a number of organisms. Given the prevalence of this process, there is a need for studies clarifying the effects of changes in agricultural practices on local biological communities; for instance, the transformation of traditional rainfed agriculture into intensively irrigated agriculture. We focused on pond-breeding amphibians as model organisms to assess the ecological effects of agricultural intensification because they are sensitive to changes in habitat quality at both local and landscape scales. We applied a metacommunity approach to characterize amphibian communities breeding in a network of ponds embedded in a terrestrial habitat matrix that was partly converted from rainfed crops to intensive irrigated agriculture in the 1990s. Specifically, we compared alpha and beta diversity, species occupancy and abundance, and metacommunity structure between irrigated and rainfed areas. We found strong differences in patterns of species occurrence, community structure and pairwise beta diversity between agricultural management groups, with a marked community structure in rainfed ponds associated with local features and the presence of some rare species that were nearly absent in the irrigated area, which was characterized by a random community structure. Natural vegetation cover at the landscape scale, significantly lower on the irrigated area, was an important predictor of species occurrences. Our results suggest that maintaining both local and landscape heterogeneity is key to preserving diverse amphibian communities in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes.

scholarly journals Linking pollinator occurrence in field margins to pollinator visitation to a mass-flowering crop

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 153-166
Author(s):  
Marjaana Toivonen ◽  
Irina Herzon ◽  
Jenni Toikkanen ◽  
Mikko Kuussaari
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Field Margins ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Pollinator Abundance ◽  
Management Approaches

Uncultivated field margins are important refugia for pollinating insects in agricultural landscapes. However, the spill-over of pollination services from field margins to adjacent crops is poorly understood. This study (i) examined the effects of landscape heterogeneity on pollinator occurrence in permanent field margins and pollinator visitation to adjacent mass-flowering turnip rape (Brassica rapa ssp. oleifera) in boreal agricultural landscapes, and (ii) tested whether pollinator abundance and species richness in field margins predict abundance and species richness of crop visitors. Pollinators visiting the crop were more affected by landscape heterogeneity than pollinators in adjacent margins. Species richness, total abundance, and the abundance of syrphid flies visiting the crop increased with increasing landscape heterogeneity, whereas, in field margins, landscape heterogeneity had little effect on pollinators. In field-dominated homogeneous landscapes, wild pollinators rarely visited the crop even if they occurred in adjacent margins, whereas in heterogeneous landscapes, differences between the two habitats were smaller. Total pollinator abundance and species richness in field margins were poor predictors of pollinator visitation to adjacent crop. However, high abundances of honeybees and bumblebees in margins were related to high numbers of crop visitors from these taxa. Our results suggest that, while uncultivated field margins help pollinators persist in boreal agricultural landscapes, they do not always result in enhanced pollinator visitation to the adjacent crop. More studies quantifying pollination service delivery from semi-natural habitats to crops in different landscape settings will help develop management approaches to support crop pollination. 

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