Connectivity analysis as a tool for assessing restoration success

Volk, Xenia K.; Gattringer, Johannes P.; Otte, Annette; Harvolk‐Schöning, Sarah

doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0611-6

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In this model, nodes are represented by habitat fragments that are connected by links, allowing species to disperse between fragments [19,20]. In agroforestry landscapes with productive areas, the results of this model can be used for decision making and planning of conservation and restoration areas [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration and Conservation of Priority Areas of Caatinga’s Semi-Arid Forest Remnants Can Support Connectivity within an Agricultural Landscape

Salazar

Arellano

Muñoz‐Sáez

et al. 2021

Land

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Land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes are major drivers of biodiversity loss in semi-arid regions, such as the Caatinga biome located in the Northeast of Brazil. We investigated landscape dynamics and fragmentation in an area of the São Francisco Valley in the Brazilian Caatinga biome and measured the effect of these dynamics on ecological, functional and structural connectivity over a 33-year period (1985–2018). We calculated landscape connectivity indices based on graph theory to quantify the effect of further agricultural expansion on ecological connectivity at the landscape scale. We used a multicriteria decision analysis that integrates graph-based connectivity indices at the habitat patch scale, combined with an index of human disturbance to identify patches that, if conserved and restored, preserve the connectivity of the landscape most effectively. In the period studied, agriculture increased at a rate of 2104 ha/year, while native Caatinga vegetation decreased at a rate of 5203 ha/year. Both dense and open Caatinga became more fragmented, with the number of fragments increasing by 85.2% and 28.6%, respectively, whilst the average fragment size decreased by 84.8% and 6.1% for dense and open Caatinga, respectively. If agriculture patches were to expand by a 300 m buffer around each patch, the overall ecological connectivity could be reduced by 6–15%, depending on the species’ (small- to mid-size terrestrial vertebrates) mobility characteristics for which the connectivity indices were calculated. We provided explicit spatial connectivity and fragmentation information for the conservation and restoration of the Caatinga vegetation in the studied area. This information helps with conservation planning in this rapidly changing ecosystem.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration and Conservation of Priority Areas of Caatinga’s Semi-Arid Forest Remnants Can Support Connectivity within an Agricultural Landscape

Salazar

Arellano

Muñoz‐Sáez

et al. 2021

Land

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“…Maintaining or restoring landscape connectivity is an important component of conservation [ 15 , 19 ]. We demonstrated with the use of dynamic state variable models that the state of the animal, the foraging strategy (e.g., energy maximization or foraging time minimization to avoid predation as reflected in the fitness function), and the difference in patch quality all had a strong influence on the motivation to move to a new patch, which we considered reflected functional connectivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, Belisle (2005) advocated for an assessment of functional connectivity that connects a behavioural understanding of why animals are motivated to move to a new patch along with the degree to which landscapes both facilitate or impede animal movement among resource patches [ 6 – 8 ]. By differentially distributing individuals on the landscape functional connectivity directly influences population growth and trophic dynamics [ 9 – 13 ], and is critical for conservation and management of animal populations [ 14 – 19 ]. The motivation to move among patches comes in the form of trade-offs between rewards, such as gaining access to forage resources or mates and avoiding the risks of predation or the uncertainty in future reward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional connectivity in ruminants: A generalized state-dependent modelling approach

Visscher

Merrill

2018

PLoS ONE

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Animal behaviour is increasingly seen as an important component in maintaining functional connectivity between patches in fragmented landscapes. However, models that explicitly incorporate behavioural trade-offs are rarely applied to landscape planning problems like connectivity. The aim of this study was to explore how state-dependent behaviour influenced functional connectivity between patches from a theoretical perspective. We investigated how inter-patch distances influenced functional connectivity using a dynamic state variable model framework. The decision making process of an individual ruminant facing fitness trade-offs in staying in its patch of origin or moving to another patch at various distances were explicitly modelled. We incorporated energetic costs and predation costs of feeding, ruminating, and resting while in the patch and for transit between patches based on inter-patch distance. Functional connectivity was maintained with isolated patches when they offered high intake and the inactivity of rumination associated with rapid gut fill resulted in reduced predation risk. Nevertheless, individuals in high energetic state often would forgo moving to another patch, whereas individuals in poor energetic states were forced to accept the cost of movement to best meet their requirements in the distant patch. The inclusion of state-dependent behavioural models provides important insights into functional connectivity in fragmented landscapes and helps integrate animal behaviour into landscape planning. We discuss the consequences of our findings for landscape planning to show how the approach provides a heuristic tool to assess alternative scenarios for restoring landscape functional connectivity.

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“…Case studies in the Yellow River Delta showed that the depth of a tidal creek had a strong correlation with the density (P = 0.04; R 2 = 0.25 ) and height (P = 0.01; R 2 = 0.40 ) of P. australis (Wu et al, 2020). The parameters of tidal creeks were also linked to the terrain-based structural and dynamic hydrological connectivity (Dawidek and Ferencz, 2016;Volk et al, 2018) on the horizontal direction. Besides, the distribution of plant species and communities are mainly dependent on soil salinity (Cui et al, 2008;Cui et al, 2010;Meng et al, 2016).…”

Section: Influence Of Environment Factors On Plantsmentioning

confidence: 97%

A Threshold-like Effect on the Interaction Between Hydrological Connectivity and Dominant Plant Population in Tidal Marsh Wetlands

Liu¹,

Liu²,

Xie³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Tidal marsh wetlands in the Yellow River Delta provide valuable eco-services to the local population and global ecology. However, this area is suffering from serious degradation under the stresses of social development and climate change. Hydrological connectivity, a new framework in hydrology and ecology, has been proposed as the main factor affecting the ecological processes in coastal wetlands; however, its role in hydrology-soil-vegetation interactions remains unclear. In this study, the researchers parametrically quantified the hydrological connectivity in the tidal marsh wetlands and analyzed its relationship with Phragmites australis, one of the dominant species in this area. Our results showed threshold-like effects on the interaction between hydrological connectivity and P. australis on the plot scale. When biomass is lower than 2.2 kg/m2, the population density and structure size were found to increase with hydrological connectivity. When the biomass is higher than the threshold, the plots disconnected hydrologically because of high water consumption. Compared with soil chemistry, salinity, and water soil content, hydrological connectivity in the surface soil layer is more strongly linked to the plant traits and spatial structure in the tidal marsh wetlands due to the narrow ranges of other variables. Based on the authors' analysis, the researchers do not recommend dense plantation of P. australis, especially near the freshwater sources in the tidal marsh, because of its high reproduction ability and competitive nature, which may cut the freshwater connectivity off, lowering the richness of plant species and habitat diversity.

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Connectivity analysis as a tool for assessing restoration success

Cited by 27 publications

References 43 publications

Restoration and Conservation of Priority Areas of Caatinga’s Semi-Arid Forest Remnants Can Support Connectivity within an Agricultural Landscape

Restoration and Conservation of Priority Areas of Caatinga’s Semi-Arid Forest Remnants Can Support Connectivity within an Agricultural Landscape

Functional connectivity in ruminants: A generalized state-dependent modelling approach

A Threshold-like Effect on the Interaction Between Hydrological Connectivity and Dominant Plant Population in Tidal Marsh Wetlands

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