Generalizing Boltzmann Configurational Entropy to Surfaces, Point Patterns and Landscape Mosaics

Several methods have been recently proposed to calculate configurational entropy, based on Boltzmann entropy. Some of these methods appear to be fully thermodynamically consistent in their application to landscape patch mosaics, but none have been shown to be fully generalizable to all kinds of landscape patterns, such as point patterns, surfaces, and patch mosaics. The goal of this paper is to evaluate if the direct application of the Boltzmann relation is fully generalizable to surfaces, point patterns, and landscape mosaics. I simulated surfaces and point patterns with a fractal neutral model to control their degree of aggregation. I used spatial permutation analysis to produce distributions of microstates and fit functions to predict the distributions of microstates and the shape of the entropy function. The results confirmed that the direct application of the Boltzmann relation is generalizable across surfaces, point patterns, and landscape mosaics, providing a useful general approach to calculating landscape entropy.

Mixed pine and spruce stands in the Luga-Volkhov and Valdai-Tikhvin landscape districts of the Leningrad Region

Pine- and spruce-dominatedmixed stands occupy a substantial part of the forested area. Depending on soil and hydrological conditions of different landscapes, stands of different forest types and tree stand composition dominate. Modern forestry is focused on growing monodominant stands, but it is worth noting that mixed stands have higher productivity and stability. This work is devoted to identifying the patterns of distribution of mixed stands by forest type in different geographic landscapes. For the study, two landscape districts of the Leningrad Region (Valdaysko-Tikhvinsky and Luzhsko-Volkhovsky) with landscape mosaics of different structure were selected. The dominant forest types and types of mixed forest stands were determined by summing the areas of each plant association. To carry out the calculations, data of the state forest inventory of the Leningrad Region were used. In the course of this study, it was found that blueberry forest type was the most common forest type in mixed stands. Most of the landscapes of the study region were dominated by spruce-deciduous stands, but in some landscapes with hilly relief, a predominance of spruce-pine stands was observed.

Metabarcoding insights into the diet and trophic diversity of six declining farmland birds

Knowledge of feeding ecology of declining species, such as farmland birds, is essential to address their conservation requirements, especially when their habitats are suffering important reductions of trophic resources. In this study, we apply a metabarcoding approach to describe the diet composition of six of the most significant farmland birds inhabiting European cereal pseudo-steppes: little bustard, great bustard, pin-tailed sandgrouse, black-bellied sandgrouse, red-legged partridge, and common quail. We further studied seasonal diet variations (autumn to spring) in all species but the common quail, whose diet was studied during spring and summer. We show that study species´ diets mostly consisted of plants, although in the case of little bustard and great bustard arthropods are also highly relevant. Among arthropods, we found high proportions of thrips, arachnids, and springtails, which were previously unreported in their diet, and some taxa that could be used as antiparasitic food. Moreover, we report that little bustard’s diet is the least rich of that of all studied species, and that diet of all these species is less diverse in winter than in autumn and spring. Diet composition of these declining species supports the importance of natural and semi-natural vegetation and landscape mosaics that can provide a wide variety of arthropods, plants, and seeds all year-round.

Concepts for Sustainable Landscape Mosaics

This new 9-page publication of the UF/IFAS Environmental Horticulture Department is for Florida homeowners, residential and commercial property managers, and landscape architects interested in creating aesthetically pleasing landscapes and to help individuals choose the right plant for the right place. Written by Tina McIntyre, Rachel Gutner, and Sandra Wilson.

BIOTIC ASSESSMENT INDEX BASED ON ANURAN SPECIES TO EVALUATE THE BIOTIC INTEGRITY OF THE FLOODED SAVANNAS ECOSYSTEM FROM PAUTO RIVER BASIN (CASANARE-COLOMBIA)

Currently, huge environmental impacts such as diversity loss, landscape fragmentation and pollution have been modifying the dynamics of the flooded savannas ecosystems from Pauto River basin in Colombia. Hereby, I have developed a practical management tool to support decision makers and stakeholders in assessing the state of biotic integrity within an ecosystem based on anuran species composition that inhabit this ecosystem. The IBIA shown be sensitive to native vegetation transformation which is correlated with anuran composition. Also, the index provided a clear indication regarding the biological integrity as well as environmental quality of the areas in which the IBIA was utilized. However, the IBIA requires medium and long term application and monitoring within different landscape mosaics present in the flooded savannas from the Orinoquia region for its calibration.

belg: A Tool for Calculating Boltzmann Entropy of Landscape Gradients

Entropy is a fundamental concept in thermodynamics that is important in many fields, including image processing, neurobiology, urban planning, and sustainability. As of recently, the application of Boltzmann entropy for landscape patterns was mostly limited to the conceptual discussion. However, in the last several years, a number of methods for calculating Boltzmann entropy for landscape mosaics and gradients were proposed. We developed an R package belg as an open source tool for calculating Boltzmann entropy of landscape gradients. The package contains functions to calculate relative and absolute Boltzmann entropy using the hierarchy-based and the aggregation-based methods. It also supports input raster with missing (NA) values, allowing for calculations on real data. In this study, we explain ideas behind implemented methods, describe the core functionality of the software, and present three examples of its use. The examples show the basic functions in this package, how to adjust Boltzmann entropy values for data with missing values, and how to use the belg package in larger workflows. We expect that the belg package will be a useful tool in the discussion of using entropy for a description of landscape patterns and facilitate a thermodynamic understanding of landscape dynamics.

Conceptual Links between Landscape Diversity and Diet Diversity: A Roadmap for Transdisciplinary Research

Malnutrition linked to poor quality diets affects at least 2 billion people. Forests, as well as agricultural systems linked to trees, are key sources of dietary diversity in rural settings. In the present article, we develop conceptual links between diet diversity and forested landscape mosaics within the rural tropics. First, we summarize the state of knowledge regarding diets obtained from forests, trees, and agroforests. We then hypothesize how disturbed secondary forests, edge habitats, forest access, and landscape diversity can function in bolstering dietary diversity. Taken together, these ideas help us build a framework illuminating four pathways (direct, agroecological, energy, and market pathways) connecting forested landscapes to diet diversity. Finally, we offer recommendations to fill remaining knowledge gaps related to diet and forest cover monitoring. We argue that better evaluation of the role of land cover complexity will help avoid overly simplistic views of food security and, instead, uncover nutritional synergies with forest conservation and restoration.