The relative importance of patch habitat quality and landscape attributes on a declining steppe-bird metapopulation

Vögeli, Matthias; Serrano, David; Pacios, Fernando; Tella, José Luis

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.12.040

Cited by 79 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Our study area in the Ebro Valley (northeast Spain) covers ca 9000 km 2 of arid and flat land, which is mostly devoted to non-irrigated cereal crops, while the original steppe vegetation has been reduced to a number of small and isolated patches [18]. Dupont's lark exclusively inhabits these flat steppe patches, forming a spatially structured population which holds ca 40 per cent of the Spanish breeding territories [15].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The larks were distributed among 27 local populations (hereafter 'populations'). All fragments of a suitable habitat separated by a distance of less than 1 km from the nearest neighbour fragment were assigned to the same population (figure 1), based on spatial analyses of connectivity and the species' behaviour [18]. Dupont's lark population sizes were calculated as the number of occupied territories through territory mapping of males aided by its acoustic identification and observations of individually colour-banded birds [17].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dupont's lark population sizes were calculated as the number of occupied territories through territory mapping of males aided by its acoustic identification and observations of individually colour-banded birds [17]. Dupont's lark breeding densities were determined as (i) the number of occupied territories divided by patch size, and (ii) the mean distance between the nearest singing male neighbours [16,18].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens

et al. 2011

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Emergent infectious diseases represent a major threat for biodiversity in fragmented habitat networks, but their dynamics in host metapopulations remain largely unexplored. We studied a large community of pathogens (including 26 haematozoans, bacteria and viruses as determined through polymerase chain reaction assays) in a highly fragmented mainland bird metapopulation. Contrary to recent studies, which have established that the prevalence of pathogens increase with habitat fragmentation owing to crowding and habitat-edge effects, the analysed pathogen parameters were neither dependent on host densities nor related to the spatial structure of the metapopulation. We provide, to our knowledge, the first empirical evidence for a positive effect of host population size on pathogen prevalence, richness and diversity. These new insights into the interplay between habitat fragmentation and pathogens reveal properties of a host-pathogen system resembling island environments, suggesting that severe habitat loss and fragmentation could lower pathogen pressure in small populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens

et al. 2011

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“…More mechanistic knowledge also has been gathered on the effects of patch variables on specific demographic parameters such as density and population size (e.g., Rabasa et al 2008, Vö geli et al 2010, Ö rvö ssy et al 2012, immigration (Hanski andGaggiotti 2004, Matter et al 2009) and breeding success (Hinsley et al 1999, Soga andKoike 2013). Some studies have targeted multiple demographic processes but at small scales such as within a single patch or single landscape , Zanette 2000, whereas others working at larger scales have not explored the relationships between demography and colonization or extinction (Holland andBennett 2010, Richmond et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population and individual‐scale responses to patch size, isolation and quality in the hazel dormouse

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Patch size, isolation and quality are key factors influencing species persistence in fragmented landscapes. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of how these variables exert their effects on populations inhabiting fragmented landscapes. At which ecological scale do they have an effect (e.g., individuals versus populations) and, on which demographic parameters?Answering these questions will identify the mechanisms that underlie population turnover rather than solely predicting it based on proxies (e.g., presence/absence data).We report the results of a large-scale, three-year study focused on the relative effects of patch size, isolation and quality on individuals and populations of an arboreal rodent, the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). We examined 30 sites nested within three landscapes characterized by contrasting levels of habitat amount and habitat quality (food resources). We quantified the effects of patch size and quality on the response of individuals (survival and litter size) and populations (density and colonization/extinction dynamics). We identified demographic mechanisms which led to population turnover. Habitat quality positively affected survival (not litter size) and population density (measured through an index). We infer that the decline in survival due to patch quality reduced patch recolonization rather than increasing extinction, while extinction was mainly affected by patch size. Our findings suggest that the effect of patch quality on individual and population parameters was constrained by the physical structure of the surrounding landscapes. At the same time, our results highlight the importance of preserving habitat quality to help the persistence of entire systems of patches.

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“…The question is whether observed changes of species' distributions can be used as indicators of population changes, especially when there are non-linear relationships between the two variables [20]. Increasing population densities have also been observed due to temporary crowding effects following habitat destruction or fragmentation [5,12,58], but that is usually found on relatively small spatial scales. These transient effects are also rapid in short lived species such as insects [18,45], which makes them less relevant for long term studies.…”

Section: Causes Of Population Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of historical collections to estimate population trends: A case study using Swedish longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Jeppsson

Lindhe

Gärdenfors

et al. 2010

Biological Conservation

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Long term data to estimate population trends among species are generally lacking. However, Natural History Collections (NHCs) can provide such information, but may suffer from biases due to varying sampling effort. To analyze population trends and range-abundance dynamics of Swedish longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), we used collections of 108 species stretching over 100 years. We controlled for varying sampling effort by using the total number of database records as a reference for non-red-listed species. Because the general frequency of red-listed species increased over time, a separate estimate of sampling effort was used for that group. We observed large interspecific variation in population changes, from declines of 60% to several hundred percent increases. Most species showed stable or increasing ranges, whereas few seemed to decline in range. Among increasing species, rare species seemed to expand their range more than common species did, but this pattern was not observed in declining species. Historically, rare species did not seem to be at larger risk of local extinction, and population declines were mostly due to lower population density and not loss of sub-populations. We also evaluated the species' declines under IUCN red-list criterion A, and four currently not red-listed species meet the suggested threshold for Near Threatened (NT). The results also suggested that species' declines may be overlooked if estimated only from changes in species range.

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The relative importance of patch habitat quality and landscape attributes on a declining steppe-bird metapopulation

Cited by 79 publications

References 32 publications

An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens

An island paradigm on the mainland: host population fragmentation impairs the community of avian pathogens

Population and individual‐scale responses to patch size, isolation and quality in the hazel dormouse

The use of historical collections to estimate population trends: A case study using Swedish longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

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