Spatial hierarchical approach in community ecology: a way beyond high context‐dependency and low predictability in local phenomena

Noda, Takashi

doi:10.1007/s10144-004-0184-x

Cited by 74 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 112 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This suggests a positive relationship between scale and the impact of environmental factors on local communities, and supports a top-down hierarchical structure of environmental filters determining local community assembly (Whittaker, Willis & Field 2001;Noda 2004). …”

Section: supporting

confidence: 52%

Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes across organizational levels and spatial scales

Schweiger

Maelfait

Wingerden³

et al. 2005

Journal of Applied Ecology

305

216

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary 1.In landscapes influenced by anthropogenic activities, such as intensive agriculture, knowledge of the relative importance and interaction of environmental factors on the composition and function of local communities across a range of spatial scales is important for maintaining biodiversity. 2. We analysed five arthropod taxa covering a broad range of functional aspects (wild bees, true bugs, carabid beetles, hoverflies and spiders) in 24 landscapes (4 × 4 km) across seven European countries along gradients of both land-use intensity and landscape structure. Species-environment relationships were examined in a hierarchical design of four main sets of environmental factors (country, land-use intensity, landscape structure, local habitat properties) that covered three spatial scales (region, landscape, local) by means of hierarchical variability partitioning using partial canonical correspondence analyses. 3. Local community composition and the distribution of body size classes and trophic guilds were most affected by regional processes, which highly confounded landscape and local factors. After correcting for regional effects, factors at the landscape scale dominated over local habitat factors. Land-use intensity explained most of the variability in species data, whereas landscape characteristics (especially connectivity) accounted for most of the variability in body size and trophic guilds. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that management effort should be focused on land-use intensity and habitat connectivity in order to enhance diversity in agricultural landscapes. Since these factors are largely independent, specific conservation programmes may be developed with regards to socio-economic and agri-environmental requirements. Changes in either of these factors will enhance diversity but will also result in specific effects on local communities related to dispersal ability and the resource use of species.

show abstract

Section: supporting

confidence: 52%

Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes across organizational levels and spatial scales

Schweiger

Maelfait

Wingerden³

et al. 2005

Journal of Applied Ecology

305

216

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This may lead to a less sensitive density dependent response as the reindeer are not able to fully express their selective feeding potential at ranges dominated by species with low quality and palatability. Indeed, these highly variable density responses at district scale reflect inter-district variations in summer range condition as well as management practice, including current stocking rate and accumulated density effects, and concurs with the general context-dependent response and low predictability of herbivore impacts at fine spatial scales (Noda, 2004). Sustainable management of the summer forage resources in West Finnmark has therefore to be district specific.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale-dependent effects of summer density on autumn mass in reindeer

Holand

Ims

Weladji

2010

Ran

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The ongoing dispute about reindeer overabundance in the West Finnmark (Norway) herding region has accentuated the need for an in-depth understanding of the density-dependent and -independent processes driving this pastoral system, as well as the spatial and temporal scale(s) they operate on. Using 20 604 records of individual male reindeer yearlings we assessed the spatial and temporal variation in animals' performance (measured by their autumn carcass mass), and investigated summer density dependent effects on autumn carcass masses at different scales. We defined three spatial scales; a regional scale represented by the whole summer range of West Finnmark, a sub-regional scale represented by the mainland (14) and the island (11) summer districts, and a fine scale represented by eight individual summer districts. We defined two temporal scales; the whole collection phase (13 years) and a temporal dimension based on the three periods of population growth. We found carcass masses to be higher at island than at mainland and to vary among districts. Effect of period was found at the regional, sub-regional and often at the district scale. The autumn carcass masses were sensitive to density at West Finnmark and mainland scales, but not at island scale, the effect being negative. This suggests intra-specific competition for summer forage due to consistent higher density resulting in reduced range quality at mainland as compared to island. On the finest scale the density effect was highly variable. Response of carcass mass to density appeared to be scale dependent both in space and time at regional and sub-regional scales. These findings underline the importance, for skilful management, of site specific biological understanding of (1) the density dependent processes and (2) the spatial and temporal scales these processes are operating on. Adaptive management strategies for sustainable use of the summer forage resources in West Finnmark have therefore to be district specific.

show abstract

“…2006 Estimating sample representativeness in a survey of stream caddisfly fauna , Townsend et al 2003. In this paper, we followed the suggestion of Noda (2004), and used the term scale, as the physical dimension of the sample (for instance, the total sampled area) and the term level, as the spatial range of the study. Thus, we considered microhabitat, pool/riffle, reach, segment, and stream system as different levels of a habitat hierarchy (Frissell et al 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating sample representativeness in a survey of stream caddisfly fauna

Schmera

Erős

2006

Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Lim.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Obtaining an adequate and representative sample is a continuing challenge of community ecology. The present study focuses on what sample area represents adequately the structural composition of the caddisfly fauna of a riffle, at a given sampling occasion. Sixty-two Surber samples were collected from a riffle in a second-order reach of the Bernecei Stream (Börzsöny Mountains, Hungary). This data set was used to estimate sample representativeness at different sample sizes (from 1 to 31 Surber samples, 0.09 m 2 -2.79 m 2 ) generated a re-sampling procedure. Sample representativeness was measured with mean Jaccard Coefficient and Bray-Curtis Index between samples for species presence-absence data and abundance data, respectively. We found that a sample size of 2.25 m 2 represented well (mean similarity 0.998) the species composition of the caddisfly fauna if rare species were excluded from the analysis. In contrast, sample representativeness of species composition proved to be relatively low (0.719) if rare species were included in the analysis. Curves of sample representativeness based on both raw-, or transformed abundance data were less sensitive to the presence of rare species and showed lower representativeness than sample representativeness based on presence/absence data.

show abstract

Spatial hierarchical approach in community ecology: a way beyond high context‐dependency and low predictability in local phenomena

Cited by 74 publications

References 112 publications

Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes across organizational levels and spatial scales

Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes across organizational levels and spatial scales

Scale-dependent effects of summer density on autumn mass in reindeer

Estimating sample representativeness in a survey of stream caddisfly fauna

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About