Landscape Heterogeneity–Biodiversity Relationship: Effect of Range Size

Abstract

The importance of landscape heterogeneity to biodiversity may depend on the size of the geographic range of species, which in turn can reflect species traits (such as habitat generalization) and the effects of historical and contemporary land covers. We used nationwide bird survey data from Japan, where heterogeneous landscapes predominate, to test the hypothesis that wide-ranging species are positively associated with landscape heterogeneity in terms of species richness and abundance, whereas narrow-ranging species are positively associated with landscape homogeneity in the form of either open or forest habitats. We used simultaneous autoregressive models to explore the effects of climate, evapotranspiration, and landscape heterogeneity on the richness and abundance of breeding land-bird species. The richness of wide-ranging species and the total species richness were highest in heterogeneous landscapes, where many wide-ranging species showed the highest abundance. In contrast, the richness of narrow-ranging species was not highest in heterogeneous landscapes; most of those species were abundant in either open or forest landscapes. Moreover, in open landscapes, narrow-ranging species increased their species richness with decreasing temperature. These results indicate that heterogeneous landscapes are associated with rich bird diversity but that most narrow-ranging species prefer homogeneous landscapes—particularly open habitats in colder regions, where grasslands have historically predominated. There is a need to reassess the generality of the heterogeneity-biodiversity relationship, with attention to the characteristics of species assemblages determined by environments at large spatiotemporal scales.

A review of post-war changes in rice farming and biodiversity in Japan

“…For example, it has been shown that the species richness and abundance of terrestrial birds are higher in agriculture-forest mosaics than in large continuous areas of a single habitat such as forests, grasslands, and farmlands (Katayama et al, 2014), suggesting the important role of habitat heterogeneity in maintaining farmland biodiversity. But it is worth noting that those large continuous tracts of habitat might be important in maintaining certain species (e.g., those that rely on forest or grassland interiors).…”

Determinants of richness patterns differ between rare and common species: implications for Gesneriaceae conservation in China

“…However, some other studies have shown that both common and rare species are affected by the same environmental factors (Currie & Paquin, 1987;Siqueira et al, 2012). This issue has been well studied on many vertebrate groups (Siqueira et al, 2012;Katayama et al, 2014), especially birds (Jetz & Rahbek, 2002;Lennon et al, 2004). However, there are fewer studies on ornamentally valuable and threatened plant species with narrow climatic adaption in vulnerable habitats.…”

Quantifying spatiotemporal drivers of environmental heterogeneity in Kruger National Park, South Africa

“…Recent studies further suggest that the relationship itself is non-ubiquitous (Bar-Massada and Wood 2014), varying across scale Stein et al 2014), level of ecosystem disturbance (Seiferling et al 2014), species geographic range (Katayama et al 2014) and available habitat area (Fahrig 2013). We expect this is due to the complexity of environmental heterogeneity and the contingency of identifying key drivers of this heterogeneity using conventional methods (Johnson 2007).…”