scholarly journals Landscape Structure Effects on Bee and Wasp Assemblages in a Semiarid Buffer Zone

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian Maria Araujo Flores ◽  
Lorenzo Roberto Sgobaro Zanette ◽  
Danilo Boscolo ◽  
Francisca Soares Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Landscape Configuration ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Landscape Units ◽  
Vegetation Loss

Understanding the effects of anthropogenic changes on groups that perform key ecosystem services, such as pollination and pest control, is essential for conservation and maintenance of these groups in landscapes. We aimed to understand how landscape heterogeneity and the natural vegetation loss affect the diversity of bees, wasps and their parasitoids in a resource limited semiarid environment. We sampled bees and wasps that nest in pre-existing cavities in 20 landscapes, for two years, in Ubajara National Park, in northeastern of Brazil. We recorded eleven species of bees, nine of wasps and six of parasitoids in 657 trapnests. Landscape heterogeneity had different effects on bees, wasps and their parasitoids. Landscape configuration had stronger effect than composition. Bee abundance decreased according to the complexity of the spatial arrangement of landscape units, while wasp abundance increased. Our study shows that in semiarid regions some species may have different responses to landscape structure from those found in other regions. The spatial patterns described here have important implications for conservation of these essential biological groups, indicating that conservation actions for these groups should associate both landscape composition and configuration to increase the provision of resources and to facilitate the access to resources throughout the year.

scholarly journals Influence of landscape structure on Euglossini composition in open vegetation environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Freitas Moreira ◽  
Rafaela Lorena da Silva Santos ◽  
Maxwell Souza Silveira ◽  
Danilo Boscolo ◽  
Edinaldo Luz das Neves ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Landscape Configuration ◽  
Habitat Amount ◽  
Savanna Vegetation ◽  
Habitat Amount Hypothesis

Abstract The fauna of Euglossini bees is poorly known in savanna regions, making it difficult to understand how these bees use open vegetation environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of landscape structure on species abundance and composition of Euglossini bees in naturally heterogeneous savanna landscapes. Nine sites were sampled monthly using six traps with chemical baits. Three aromatic essences (eucalyptol, methyl salicylate and vanillin) were used to attract the Euglossini. Surrounding environmental conditions were measured using three independent variables, calculated in multiple scales: index of local vegetation and two landscape indices (Shannon Diversity and area-weighted shape). We compared the competing hypotheses through model selection based on Second-order Akaike Information Criterion (AICc). The four competing hypothesis were: (1) The local vegetation complexity favors Euglossini bees species richness and/or abundance (local vegetation hypothesis); (2) The proportion of the native vegetation types favors Euglossini bees species richness and/or abundance (habitat amount hypothesis); (3) Higher landscape diversity shall increase species richness of Euglossini bees (landscape heterogeneity hypothesis); (4) More complex landscape configuration shall favor the Euglossini bees richness and/or abundance (landscape heterogeneity hypothesis). We sampled 647 individuals belonging to six species of two distinct genera. Our results support the habitat amount hypothesis since bees’ abundance was strongly related with the proportion of habitat in the surrounding landscape. This may be related to the availability of floral and nesting resources in some types of savanna vegetation.

scholarly journals Landscape structure shapes the diversity of tree seedlings at multiple spatial scales in a fragmented tropical rainforest

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0253284
Author(s):  
Sergio Nicasio-Arzeta ◽  
Isela E. Zermeño-Hernández ◽  
Susana Maza-Villalobos ◽  
Julieta Benítez-Malvido
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Landscape Configuration ◽  
Secondary Forests ◽  
Tree Seedling ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Α Diversity

The maintenance of seedling diversity of animal-dispersed tree species is fundamental for the structure and function of forest patches in fragmented tropical rainforests. Nonetheless, the effects of landscape structure at different spatial scales on α- and β-diversity of tree seedling communities are recently explored. Using a multi-scale approach, we assessed the relative effect of landscape composition and configuration on α- and β-diversity of animal-dispersed seedlings within 16 forest patches in the Lacandona rainforest, Mexico. We assessed these effects at 13 spatial scales (from 300 to 1500 m radius, at 100 m intervals) for three metrics of effective number of species considering α- and β-diversity. We found that α-diversity was largely affected by landscape composition and β-diversity by landscape configuration. On the one hand, the amount of secondary forest influenced α-diversity. Additionally, species richness increased in landscapes with highly aggregated forest patches. On the other hand, β-diversity was affected positively by forest fragmentation and negatively by the edge contrast of forest patches with the surrounding matrix. Our findings indicate that landscape configuration is a strong driver of seedling diversity in highly deforested rainforests. Promoting forest patches and secondary forests through payment for ecosystem services’ programs, favoring matrix quality within land-sharing schemes of smallholder agriculture and secondary forest management, and identifying restoration opportunities for assisted or unassisted natural regeneration are urgently needed for conservation of seedling diversity in human-modified tropical landscapes.

scholarly journals The Interplay Between Thematic Resolution, Forest Cover, and Heterogeneity for Explaining Euglossini Bees Community in an Agricultural Landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lázaro da Silva Carneiro ◽  
Willian Moura de Aguiar ◽  
Camila de Fátima Priante ◽  
Milton Cezar Ribeiro ◽  
Wilson Frantine-Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Biological Responses ◽  
Thematic Resolution ◽  
Bee Community

Human activities have modified the landscape composition. The changes in the landscape structure can be evaluated by metrics, which are influenced, among other factors, by the number of cover classes used for the landscape classification (thematic resolution). In high thematic resolutions, landscape covers that can influence biological responses are identified and detailed. In low thematic resolutions, this detail level is lower because it aggregates different landscape covers in a few classes. However, how the thematic resolution influences our ability to understand landscape structure on biodiversity is poorly explored, particularly for pollinators. Here we asked how thematic resolution affects the explanatory power of landscape composition on explaining Euglossini bees (richness and abundance) within 15 landscapes composed mainly of coffee and pasture. To address this issue, we quantified the association between five attributes of the euglossine bee community and landscape composition: landscape cover classes (%) and landscape heterogeneity. Moreover, we also evaluated how the thematic resolution influences bee responses to landscape structure. We found a strong and positive influence of landscape heterogeneity in low thematic resolutions (i.e., few cover classes on maps) over the richness and rare species abundance. We also observed that- in addition to the forest cover in the landscape- the pasture cover (%) quantified in high thematic resolution positively influenced the total abundance and abundance of common and intermediate species. Our study highlights the importance of maintaining compositional heterogeneity for the orchid bee community in agroecosystems, and forest cover for the biological requirements and conservation of these pollinators. Moreover, the use of different thematic resolutions showed how specific types of landscape covers influence the euglossine community attributes. This can highlight the species preferences for habitats and landscape covers. Thus, we call the attention of landscape ecologists to the importance of the definition of thematic resolution, as our ability to quantify the association between biological responses and landscape structure may be influenced by the number of classes used when building thematic maps.

scholarly journals Assessment of Tuscany Landscape Structure According to the Regional Landscape Plan Partition

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5424
Author(s):  
Martina Venturi ◽  
Francesco Piras ◽  
Federica Corrieri ◽  
Beatrice Fiore ◽  
Antonio Santoro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Edge Density ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Landscape Mosaic ◽  
Landscape Complexity ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Patch Density ◽  
Landscape Units

The landscape is considered a strategic asset by the Tuscan regional government, also for its economic role, meaning that a specific Landscape Plan has been developed, dividing the region into 20 Landscape Units and representing the main planning instrument at the regional level. Following the aims of the Landscape Plan and the guidelines of the European Landscape Convention, it is necessary to develop an adequate assessment of the landscape, evaluating the main typologies and their characteristics. The aim of this research is to carry out an assessment of the landscape diversity in Tuscany based on 20 study areas, analyzing land uses and landscape mosaic structures through the application of landscape metrics: number of land uses, mean patch size (MPS), Hill’s diversity number, edge density (ED), patch density (PD), land use diversity (LUD). The results highlight a correlation between the landscape typologies (forest, agricultural, mixed, periurban) and the complexity of the landscape structure, especially in relation to MPS and PD, while the combination of PD and LUD calculated on the basis of a hexagonal grid allows obtaining landscape complexity maps. Despite the phenomena of reforestation and urban sprawl of recent decades, Tuscany still preserves different landscape typologies characterized by a good level of complexity. This is particularly evident in mixed landscapes, while agricultural landscapes have a larger variability because of different historical land organization forms. The methodology applied in this study provided a large amount of data about land uses and the landscape mosaic structure and complexity and proved to be effective in assessing the landscape structure and in creating a database that can represent a baseline for future monitoring.

Landscape composition is more important than landscape configuration for phyllostomid bat assemblages in a fragmented biodiversity hotspot

2016 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 84-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez ◽  
Carolina Rojas ◽  
Romeo A. Saldaña-Vázquez ◽  
Kathryn E. Stoner
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Landscape Configuration

scholarly journals Landscape Ecological Structure in the Eastern Part of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve, Latvia

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
Aivars Tērauds ◽  
Oļgerts Nikodemus ◽  
Inga Rasa ◽  
Simons Bells
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Forest Area ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Ecological Structure ◽  
The North ◽  
Landscape Units ◽  
Landscape Ecological

Landscape Ecological Structure in the Eastern Part of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve, Latvia Latvia is a country where the forest area has increased and habitat fragmentation has reversed compared with many other European countries. In order to examine the effect of this expansion on biodiversity, vegetation maps dating from 2002 and the years 1930-1936 were used for comparative landscape structure analyses while archive materials from forest plans, and data from the national forest management database were used for land use analysis. Four landscape ecoregions in the eastern side of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve were selected for analysis. Landscape structure indicators derived from landscape ecology were used for the ecological assessment of land use changes. The total number of forest patches had decreased over the study period, but mean patch size had increased for all types of landscape element. This general change was found to vary between different landscape units in the study area. The biggest change in the area of forest patches occurred in the Rūjiena drumlin field, where the amount of forest patches decreased least and forest area increased the most. This study showed that the internal structure of the forest matrix changed substantially. This finding has implications for biodiversity protection if this trend of land use change continues.

Landscape Heterogeneity and Dynamics

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-126
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. With
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Ecology ◽  
Spatial Heterogeneity ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbances ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Disturbance Dynamics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Over Time

Heterogeneity is a defining characteristic of landscapes and therefore central to the study of landscape ecology. Landscape ecology investigates what factors give rise to heterogeneity, how that heterogeneity is maintained or altered by natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and how heterogeneity ultimately influences ecological processes and flows across the landscape. Because heterogeneity is expressed across a wide range of spatial scales, the landscape perspective can be applied to address these sorts of questions at any level of ecological organization, and in aquatic and marine systems as well as terrestrial ones. Disturbances—both natural and anthropogenic—are a ubiquitous feature of any landscape, contributing to its structure and dynamics. Although the focus in landscape ecology is typically on spatial heterogeneity, disturbance dynamics produce changes in landscape structure over time as well as in space. Heterogeneity and disturbance dynamics are thus inextricably linked and are therefore covered together in this chapter.

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 A Spatial Analysis of Serotine Bat (Eptesicus serotinus) Roost Location and Landscape Structure: A Case Study in Sussex, UK

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tink ◽  
Niall G. Burnside ◽  
Stephen Waite
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Density Analysis ◽  
South East England ◽  
Kernel Density Analysis ◽  
Eptesicus Serotinus

Roost location is a key factor affecting the survival and fitness of British bats. It has been suggested that a knowledge and understanding of the factors which may influence the selection of roost location are fundamental to conservation efforts. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between Eptesicus serotinus roost location and landscape structure. The study is based in the Sussex region of South East England. The landscape characteristics of 97 roosts locations were compared against 100 random control locations. Habitat analysis was carried out at three distance bands and included an analysis of roost density. The results indicate that E. serotinus is selective in locating roosts. The study demonstrates that there are significant differences between the landscape composition surrounding roost sites and the wider landscape. In particular, E. serotinus roost sites are found to be located in areas with a significantly higher cover of arable land and improved grassland. Kernel density analysis was successfully used as an additional method to the direct comparison of roost neighbourhood composition. Density analysis identified the location and characteristics of possible centres of E. serotinus activity. It is anticipated that the findings will enable the needs of bats to be considered in future landscape conservation initiatives and development policies.

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