1
|
Wang Z, Liu S, Su Y. Spatiotemporal evolution of habitat quality and its response to landscape patterns in karst mountainous cities: a case study of Guiyang City in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2023; 30:114391-114405. [PMID: 37861839 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-30420-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Habitat quality heterogeneity is one of the concrete manifestations of landscape pattern changes caused by human activities, which is of great significance to improve habitat quality by optimizing landscape pattern, thus scientifically protecting biodiversity and promoting ecological civilization construction. The coupling of rapid urbanization and ecological restoration measures has had a significant influence on the habitat quality of fragile and fragmented karst mountainous cities in recent years. In this study, spatiotemporal dynamics and heterogeneity of habitat quality and the impact of landscape patterns on habitat quality are analyzed in Guiyang, a typical karst mountain city in southwest China, mainly using the key methodologies such as the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model, Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), and hierarchical partitioning (HP). We found that the habitat quality index of Guiyang City improved from 0.6643 to 0.6988 during 2000-2019; the distribution of habitat quality has significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity and spatial aggregation effect with the low values or the decreased areas concentrated in and around the built-up areas or urbanization expansion areas. Landscape composition had greater contribution than landscape configuration to habitat quality. The increased areas of natural habitat have had a positive effect on habitat quality. Moreover, each landscape configuration had a significant positive or negative correlation with the habitat quality. Therefore, implementing ecological protection and restoration measures in karst mountainous cities might be an effective strategy to improve habitat quality during rapid urbanization. Furthermore, optimizing habitat patterns, reducing the habitats loss, and protecting the natural habitat integrity are crucial to improving and maintaining biodiversity in the study area.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhijie Wang
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences / Institute of Agro-Bioengineering, Guizhou University, Huaxi District, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou Province, China.
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Mountain Ecology & Agro-Bioengineering, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou Province, China.
| | - Shujun Liu
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences / Institute of Agro-Bioengineering, Guizhou University, Huaxi District, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou Province, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Mountain Ecology & Agro-Bioengineering, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou Province, China
| | - Yuan Su
- College of Forestry, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou Province, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Li W, Kang J, Wang Y. Distinguishing the relative contributions of landscape composition and configuration change on ecosystem health from a geospatial perspective. Sci Total Environ 2023; 894:165002. [PMID: 37348718 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the impact mechanisms of landscape composition and configuration change on ecosystem health (EH) is critical to ecosystem conservation and human well-being. However, existing studies mainly focused on EH changes due to combined effects of landscape composition and configuration change, while the individual impacts and spatial heterogeneity of these factors on EH remain unclear. Thus, taking Chongqing as an example, this study distinguished the relative contributions of landscape configuration and composition on EH based on scenario analysis method, and further explored how these impacts change between and within different topographic, geological and urbanization zones. The results showed that EH displayed an improving trend during 2000-2020, with the increasing areas distributed in the mountainous of southeast and northeast in Chongqing, largely influenced by increased forest landscape cohesion and their synergistic effects with forest expansion, accounting for 91.05 % and 87.86 % of the study area respectively, while the decreasing areas were mostly located in urban cores, dominated by changes in landscape composition (e.g. farmland reclamation and urban sprawl), accounting for 50.95 % of area proportion. The scenario analysis of EH showed that the areas dominated by landscape configuration were 5.39 times greater than the landscape composition under the same climate scenario. In terms of zoning comparison, the influence of landscape composition change on EH displayed the greatest difference within urbanization zones, while topographic zones for landscape configuration change. This paper provides a novel perspective to explore the impact of landscape pattern on EH, which is important to regional ecosystem conservation and land use management.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Weijie Li
- School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China; Sichuan Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Monitoring and Control for Soil Erosion in Dry Valleys, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
| | - Jinwen Kang
- School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China.
| | - Yong Wang
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Karst Environment, School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest university, Chongqing 400715, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Xu M, Xu G, Li Z, Dang Y, Li Q, Min Z, Gu F, Wang B, Liu S, Zhang Y. Effects of comprehensive landscape patterns on water quality and identification of key metrics thresholds causing its abrupt changes. Environ Pollut 2023; 333:122097. [PMID: 37352963 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
Comprehensive landscape patterns influence water quality with multiple factors, complex processes, and scale dependence. However, studies identifying landscape thresholds causing abrupt water quality changes and characterizing the contribution of topography to water quality are still limited. Exploring the impact mechanisms of natural geographical and landscape characteristics on spatial and seasonal water quality variations is conducive to watershed water resource protection and ecosystem restoration. Based on water quality monitoring data of Minjiahe River in the typical headwater area of the upstream Dan River in China from 2019 to 2021, we employed redundancy analysis, partial redundancy analysis, and nonparametric change-point analysis to analyze the relationship between stream water quality and multi-spatial scale comprehensive landscape patterns, to obtain the interactive and independent contributions of different landscape categories at multi-spatial scales on water quality, and to find the key landscape threshold leading to abrupt changes in water quality. Results showed that landscape configuration, landscape composition, and topographic factors collectively explain over 89.1% of water quality variation. Most seasonal variations in water quality were primarily caused by landscape configuration. The landscape composition was mainly responsible for the differences in water quality variations among spatial scales. The topographic factors made the least independent contribution and had a potential impact on overall water quality variation. In order to protect the water quality of streams, it is more reasonable to regulate the landscape at different scales. At the sub-catchment scale, interspersion and juxtaposition index (IJI) and landscape shape index (LSI) should be controlled below 82% and 22. At the 100 m riparian scale, farmland, urban land, IJI, and LSI should be controlled below 29%, 6.5%, 92%, and 26, respectively. Our results provide important guidance for optimizing landscape patterns and water conservation in the watershed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mingzhu Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Guoce Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Zhanbin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yutong Dang
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Qingshun Li
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Zhiqiang Min
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Fengyou Gu
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Bin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shibo Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yixin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi' an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Aggrey JJ, Ros-Tonen MAF, Asubonteng KO. Using Participatory Spatial Tools to Unravel Community Perceptions of Land-Use Dynamics in a Mine-Expanding Landscape in Ghana. Environ Manage 2021; 68:720-737. [PMID: 34212224 PMCID: PMC8560661 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-021-01494-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in sub-Saharan Africa creates considerable dynamics in rural landscapes. Many studies addressed the adverse effects of mining, but few studies use participatory spatial tools to assess the effects on land use. Hence, this paper takes an actor perspective to analyze how communities in a mixed farming-mining area in Ghana's Eastern Region perceive the spatial dynamics of ASM and its effects on land for farming and food production from past (1986) to present (2018) and toward the future (2035). Participatory maps show how participants visualize the transformation of food-crop areas into small- and large-scale mining, tree crops, and settlement in all the communities between 1986 and 2018 and foresee these trends to continue in the future (2035). Participants also observe how a mosaic landscape shifts toward a segregated landscape, with simultaneous fragmentation of their farming land due to ASM. Further segregation is expected in the future, with attribution to the expansion of settlements being an unexpected outcome. Although participants expect adverse effects on the future availability of food-crop land, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the anticipated effect on food availability. The paper argues that, if responsibly applied and used to reveal community perspectives and concerns about landscape dynamics, participatory mapping can help raise awareness of the need for collective action and contribute to more inclusive landscape governance. These findings contribute to debates on the operationalization of integrated and inclusive landscape approaches and governance, particularly in areas with pervasive impacts of ASM.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jane J Aggrey
- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 VW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Mirjam A F Ros-Tonen
- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 VW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Kwabena O Asubonteng
- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 VW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), International House, Annie Jiage Road, University of Ghana, Legon Campus, Accra, Ghana
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Liu H, Liu Y, Wang C, Zhao W, Liu S. Landscape pattern change simulations in Tibet based on the combination of the SSP-RCP scenarios. J Environ Manage 2021; 292:112783. [PMID: 34015616 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Monitoring landscape pattern change can provide spatial explicit basis for future landscape management. The future socioeconomic and climate change drivers should be systematically combined in landscape pattern monitoring, while they are often regarded as independent parameters in landscape monitoring models. This study sought to project the detailed landscape pattern change based on landscape composition and configuration in Tibet by 2030, and combined the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The results showed area of the unused land and forest will reduce by a minimum standard of 11.42 × 104 and 9.04 × 104 km2 from 2010 to 2030, respectively. Other land use types will increase, and the highest increase in grassland will be 9.30 × 105 km2. Combined SSP1 and RCP2.6 scenario show high landscape aggregation and low edge density on cultivated land, urban land and grassland in Tibet as a whole. However, in typical cultivated and urban landscape, the abovementioned rule is appeared in the combined SSP4 and RCP6.0 scenario. These findings stress the importance of systematically modeling the socioeconomic demand and climate change in landscape pattern monitoring, and using both landscape composition and configuration indexes for scenario evaluation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hua Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China
| | - Yanxu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China.
| | - Chenxu Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China
| | - Wenwu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China
| | - Shiliang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Davies RW, Edwards DP, Medina-Uribe CA, Cárdenas-Bautista JS, Haugaasen T, Gilroy JJ, Edwards FA. Replacing low-intensity cattle pasture with oil palm conserves dung beetle functional diversity when paired with forest protection. J Environ Manage 2021; 283:112009. [PMID: 33508552 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Meeting rising demand for oil palm whilst minimizing the loss of tropical biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions is a core conservation challenge. One potential solution is focusing the expansion of high-yielding crops on presently low-yielding farmlands alongside protecting nearby tropical forests that can enhance provision of ecosystem functions. A key question is how this solution would impact invertebrate functional diversity. We focus on oil palm in the Colombian Llanos, where plantations are replacing improved cattle pastures and forest fragments, and on dung beetles, which play key functional roles in nutrient cycling and secondary seed dispersal. We show that functional richness and functional diversity of dung beetles is greater in oil palm than in cattle pasture, and that functional metrics did not differ between oil palm and remnant forest. The abundance-size class profile of dung beetles in oil palm was more similar to forest than to pasture, which had lower abundances of the smallest and largest dung beetles. The abundance of tunneling and rolling dung beetles did not differ between oil palm and forest, while higher forest cover increased the abundance of diurnal and generalist-feeding beetles in oil palm landscapes. This suggests that prioritizing agricultural development on low-yielding cattle pasture will have positive effects on functional diversity and highlights the need for forest protection to maintain ecosystem functioning within agricultural landscapes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert W Davies
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
| | - David P Edwards
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Claudia A Medina-Uribe
- Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Carrera 8 # 15-08, Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia
| | - Johann S Cárdenas-Bautista
- Grupo de Investigación Biodiversidad y Conservación, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia. Av. Central Del Norte # 115-39, Tunja, Boyacá, 150001, Colombia
| | - Torbjørn Haugaasen
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - James J Gilroy
- School of Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Felicity A Edwards
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Inkoom JN, Frank S, Greve K, Fürst C. A framework to assess landscape structural capacity to provide regulating ecosystem services in West Africa. J Environ Manage 2018; 209:393-408. [PMID: 29309964 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.12.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Revised: 11/07/2017] [Accepted: 12/10/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The Sudanian savanna landscapes of West Africa are amongst the world's most vulnerable areas to climate change impacts. Inappropriate land use and agriculture management practices continuously impede the capacity of agricultural landscapes to provide ecosystem services (ES). Given the absence of practical assessment techniques to evaluate the landscape's capacity to provide regulating ES in this region, the goal of this paper is to propose an integrative assessment framework which combines remote sensing, geographic information systems, expert weighting and landscape metrics-based assessment. We utilized Analytical Hierarchical Process and Likert scale for the expert weighting of landscape capacity. In total, 56 experts from several land use and landscape management related departments participated in the assessment. Further, we adapted the hemeroby concept to define areas of naturalness while landscape metrics including Patch Density, Shannon's Diversity, and Shape Index were utilized for structural assessment. Lastly, we tested the reliability of expert weighting using certainty measurement rated by experts themselves. Our study focused on four regulating ES including flood control, pest and disease control, climate control, and wind erosion control. Our assessment framework was tested on four selected sites in the Vea catchment area of Ghana. The outcome of our study revealed that highly heterogeneous landscapes have a higher capacity to provide pest and disease control, while less heterogeneous landscapes have a higher potential to provide climate control. Further, we could show that the potential capacities to provide ecosystem services are underestimated by 15% if landscape structural aspects assessed through landscape metrics are not considered. We conclude that the combination of adapted land use and an optimized land use pattern could contribute considerably to lower climate change impacts in West African agricultural landscapes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Justice Nana Inkoom
- Center for Development Research (ZEF), Department of Ecology and Natural Resources Management, University of Bonn, Walter-Flex Strasse 3, 53113, Bonn, Germany; Geographisches Institut der Universitaet Bonn, Postfach 1147, D-53001, Bonn, Germany; Institute for Geosciences and Geography, Department Sustainable Landscape Development, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Von-Seckendorff-Platz 4, 06120, Halle, Germany.
| | - Susanne Frank
- GICON Großmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH, Tiergartenstraße 48, 01219, Dresden, Germany
| | - Klaus Greve
- Geographisches Institut der Universitaet Bonn, Postfach 1147, D-53001, Bonn, Germany
| | - Christine Fürst
- Institute for Geosciences and Geography, Department Sustainable Landscape Development, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Von-Seckendorff-Platz 4, 06120, Halle, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Berger JS, Birkhofer K, Hanson HI, Hedlund K. Landscape configuration affects herbivore-parasitoid communities in oilseed rape. J Pest Sci (2004) 2018; 91:1093-1105. [PMID: 29937705 PMCID: PMC5978837 DOI: 10.1007/s10340-018-0965-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2017] [Revised: 12/29/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
It is crucial to consider the effects of large-scale drivers on species presences and ecological interactions to understand what structures communities. In our study, we investigated how the species composition and the potential interaction networks of herbivore and parasitoid communities in oilseed rape fields are affected by agricultural landscape characteristics. Insect communities of 26 winter oilseed rape fields in southern Sweden were captured in water traps over a continuous time span of 30 ± 2 days. In total, 31% of the variation in the composition of herbivore host communities was explained by a combination of the surrounding oilseed rape area in the study year and the previous year and distance to the nearest forest. The oilseed rape area in the study year and distance to forest also explained 14% of the variation in the composition of parasitoid communities. Distance to the nearest forest together with the area of oilseed rape in the previous year explained 45% of the variation in asymmetry of interaction webs. These results indicate that several measures of landscape configuration are important both for the composition of host and parasitoid communities and also for the structure of interaction networks. Our results support the view that it is an appropriate strategy to cultivate oilseed rape in landscapes that are far away from forests, in order to minimize recolonization by pest species and at the same time to attract parasitoid species from the open landscape.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Josef S. Berger
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| | - Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
- Department of Ecology, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 6, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
| | - Helena I. Hanson
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| | - Katarina Hedlund
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Borges F, Glemnitz M, Schultz A, Stachow U. Assessing the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes for characteristic breeding bird guilds using landscape metrics. Environ Monit Assess 2017; 189:166. [PMID: 28303521 PMCID: PMC5355513 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-017-5837-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2016] [Accepted: 02/09/2017] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Many of the processes behind the decline of farmland birds can be related to modifications in landscape structure (composition and configuration), which can partly be expressed quantitatively with measurable or computable indices, i.e. landscape metrics. This paper aims to identify statistical relationships between the occurrence of birds and the landscape structure. We present a method that combines two comprehensive procedures: the "landscape-centred approach" and "guild classification". Our study is based on more than 20,000 individual bird observations based on a 4-year bird monitoring approach in a typical agricultural area in the north-eastern German lowlands. Five characteristic bird guilds, each with three characteristic species, are defined for the typical habitat types of that area: farmland, grassland, hedgerow, forest and settlement. The suitability of each sample plot for each guild is indicated by the level of persistence (LOP) of occurrence of three respective species. Thus, the sample plots can be classified as "preferred" or "less preferred" depending on the lower and upper quartiles of the LOP values. The landscape structure is characterized by 16 different landscape metrics expressing various aspects of landscape composition and configuration. For each guild, the three landscape metrics with the strongest rank correlation with the LOP values and that are not mutually dependent were identified. For four of the bird guilds, the classification success was better than 80%, compared with only 66% for the grassland bird guild. A subset of six landscape metrics proved to be the most meaningful and sufficiently classified the sample areas with respect to bird guild suitability. In addition, derived logistic functions allowed the production of guild-specific habitat suitability maps for the whole landscape. The analytical results show that the proposed approach is appropriate to assess the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes for characteristic bird guilds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Friederike Borges
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany.
- Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Alfred-Möller Str. 1, 16225, Eberswalde, Germany.
| | - Michael Glemnitz
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Alfred Schultz
- Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Alfred-Möller Str. 1, 16225, Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Ulrich Stachow
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|