Testing the relevance of binary, mosaic and continuous landscape conceptualisations to reptiles in regenerating dryland landscapes

Bruton, Melissa J.; Maron, Martine; Levin, Noam; McAlpine, Clive

doi:10.1007/s10980-015-0157-9

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Changing spatial and thematic resolution have been shown to affect both the characterisation of landscapes and ecological analysis such as measuring land cover proportions [41][42][43], landscape metrics [19,44,45], graph-based connectivity metrics [46,47], change detection [48] and statistical relationships between the landscape context and species distributions [49,50]. Spatial resolution has been demonstrated to affect statistical analysis such as inference about population mean, variation and statistical significance [43,[51][52][53][54].…”

Section: Effects On Ecological Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Lechner

Rhodes

2016

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this review we examine the past 5 years of landscape ecology research examining the effects of both spatial and thematic resolution on ecological analysis. While spatial resolution has been a topic of research for many decades, scale effects from thematic resolution have only recently been studied. Recent multi-scale analyses have demonstrated that the effects of thematic resolution on ecological analysis are comparable to spatial resolution and both spatial and thematic resolution interact. Additionally, spatial and thematic resolution can impact on multi-scale methods that are commonly used to identify the intrinsic scale-the scale at which ecological phenomena interact with the environment. A key aim of multi-scale analysis in landscape ecology is to characterise the scale-dependency of ecological processes, however, the interdisciplinary nature of landscape ecology means that research on scale has incorporated methods from a range of disciplines. These methods and concepts include: 1) multi-scale methods which characterise the sensitivity of an analysis to the modifiable areal unit problem, 2) spatial statistics for characterising the scale dependency of landscape patterns and identifying the optimal scale and 3) ecological theory describing intrinsic scales/domains of scales. We conclude by drawing on the existing literature to describe potential future areas of research to address the impacts of spatial and thematic resolution. We suggest further research on the effects of thematic resolution and conceptualising the scale continuum as multi-dimensional. We also identify mechanistic models and spatial statistics as a promising direction for future research.

show abstract

Section: Effects On Ecological Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Lechner

Rhodes

2016

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…and Batary 2011, Zuria andGates 2013, Cunningham et al 2014b). In recent years, there has been an increased focus on reptiles in modified landscapes (Mazerolle and Villard 1999, Fischer et al 2004, Michael et al 2008, Bruton et al 2015. Of emerging importance is the need to account for imperfect detection in ecological studies (Durso et al 2011, Steen et al 2012, Couturier et al 2014.…”

Section: Scale-dependent Occupancy Patterns In Reptiles Across Topogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past few decades, research on scale‐dependent habitat relationships in agricultural landscapes has focused strongly on birds (Wiens et al , Wiens , Baldi and Batary , Zuria and Gates , Cunningham et al ). In recent years, there has been an increased focus on reptiles in modified landscapes (Mazerolle and Villard , Fischer et al , Michael et al , Bruton et al ). Of emerging importance is the need to account for imperfect detection in ecological studies (Durso et al , Steen et al , Couturier et al ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale‐dependent occupancy patterns in reptiles across topographically different landscapes

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding what factors influence species occupancy in human‐modified landscapes is a central theme in ecology. We examined scale‐dependent habitat relationships and site occupancy in reptiles across three topographically different study areas in south‐eastern Australia. We collected presence–absence data on reptiles from 443 sites associated with three long‐term biodiversity monitoring programs, on four to seven occasions, between 2001 and 2013. We characterised sites by the following four variable domains: 1) field design, 2) topography, 3) local‐scale vegetation attributes and 4) landscape‐scale vegetation cover. We constructed occupancy models for 14 species and used an information‐theoretic approach to compare multiple alternative hypotheses to explain occupancy within and between study areas. We modelled detection probability and used the model with the lowest AIC in subsequent analyses. We then modelled occupancy probability against all subsets of the variable groups (field design, topography, local‐ and landscape‐scale vegetation), as well as a model that held occupancy constant (null model). We found that local‐scale vegetation attributes were important for explaining site occupancy in 12/19 possible models, although, in several cases model fit was improved by the addition of topographic variables or native vegetation cover in the surrounding landscape. Occupancy models for widespread species were broadly congruent across study areas. We demonstrate that topographic variables are important for explaining reptile occupancy in hilly landscapes, and local‐ and landscape‐scale variables are important for explaining reptile occupancy in flat or gently undulating landscapes. Management actions that improve habitat complexity at a site‐level, and encompass entire topographic gradients, will have greater benefit to woodland reptiles than simply increasing vegetation cover in the surrounding landscape.

show abstract

“…All three of the approaches discussed (conventional landscape metrics, graph theoretical methods, and surface metrics) suffer from correlation and redundancy issues. Like many other aspects of ecology, the linkages between pattern and process within all three approaches also depend on the scale of the data (both grain and extent) [95], the unit of analysis (i.e., how patches are defined) (e.g., [96]), and the relevancy of these data with respect to the problem being considered. Often, the data used in landscape ecological investigations are acquired via satellite imagery or other means that reflect anthropogenic views of the landscape and thus may not be appropriate for many ecological phenomena [8].…”

Section: Alternative Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Metrics: Past Progress and Future Directions

Frazier

Kedron

2017

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose of the Review This paper reviews progress in the field of landscape ecology related to the development of landscape metrics (i.e., spatial pattern indices). We first review the major formative historical developments that contributed to the coalescence of landscape metrics as a sub-field of landscape ecology and then examine recent literature highlighting several shortcomings related to their utility for understanding ecological processes and discuss several alternative approaches. Recent Findings Recent research recognizes some limitations of the patch-mosaic model (PMM), including the landscape metrics based on it, for capturing landscape heterogeneity and measuring functionality. Collapsing land cover information into nominal classes complicates identification of ecologically meaningful relationships and effective management. We explore several alternative methods for capturing landscape functionality and spatial heterogeneity including graph-based networks and gradient surface models with associated surface metrics. Summary With complementary patch-based, gradient, and graph network models available, the goal for landscape ecologists is to select the correct approach, or combination of approaches, for investigating the issue at hand. Biases associated with the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) and its connection to heterogeneity and scale-both grain and extent-complicate these decisions, but empirical tools from spatial allometry may improve the ability for landscape ecologists to assess where metrics are capturing ecological processes versus the scale-dependency of the metrics themselves.

show abstract

Testing the relevance of binary, mosaic and continuous landscape conceptualisations to reptiles in regenerating dryland landscapes

Cited by 17 publications

References 62 publications

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Recent Progress on Spatial and Thematic Resolution in Landscape Ecology

Scale‐dependent occupancy patterns in reptiles across topographically different landscapes

Landscape Metrics: Past Progress and Future Directions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About