Directed dispersal by rotational shepherding supports landscape genetic connectivity in a calcareous grassland plant

Summary1. The successful movement of individuals is fundamental to life. Facilitating these movements by promoting ecological connectivity has become a central theme in ecology and conservation. Urban areas contain more than half of the world's human population, and their potential to support biodiversity and to connect their citizens to nature is increasingly recognized. Promoting ecological connectivity within these areas is essential to reaching this potential. However, our current understanding of ecological connectivity within urban areas appears limited. 2. We reviewed the published scientific literature to assess the state-of-the-art of ecological connectivity research in urban areas, summarized trends in study attributes and highlighted knowledge gaps. 3. We found 174 papers that investigated ecological connectivity within urban areas. These papers addressed either structural (48) or functional connectivity (111), and some addressed both (15), but contained substantial geographic and taxonomic biases. These papers rarely defined the aspect of connectivity they were investigating and objective descriptions of the local urban context were uncommon. Formulated hypotheses or a priori predictions were typically unstated and many papers used suboptimal study designs and methods. 4. We suggest future studies explicitly consider and quantify the landscape within their analyses and make greater use of available and rapidly developing tools and methods for measuring functional connectivity (e.g. biotelemetry or landscape genetics). We also highlight the need for studies to clearly define how the terms 'urban' and 'connectivity' have been applied. 5. Knowledge gaps in ecological connectivity in urban areas remain, partly because the field is still in its infancy and partly because we must better capitalize on the state-of-the-art technological and analytical techniques that are increasingly available. Well-designed studies that employed high-resolution data and powerful analytical techniques highlight our abilities to quantify ecological connectivity in urban areas. These studies are exemplary, setting the standards for future research to facilitate data-driven and evidence-based biodiversity-friendly infrastructure planning in urban areas.

show abstract

“…; Rico et al . ). The factors that influence ecological processes vary along gradients of built density and land‐use intensity (McDonnell et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological connectivity research in urban areas

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Genetic differentiation among plant populations not only exists at large geographic scales, but also occurs at small regions as external forces may lead to environmental heterogeneity (Linhart and Grant 1996;Hirao and Kudo 2004;Rico et al 2014). Environmental disturbance impacts the spatial patterns of genetic diversity, but it is not yet well understood (Banks et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Moderate grazing promotes genetic diversity of Stipa species in the Inner Mongolian steppe

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context Disturbances may affect the spatial patterns of plant genetic diversity, but these effects are not yet well understood for lack of direct experimental evidence. Grazing is one of such environmental disturbance factors which may lead to small-scale spatial heterogeneity in natural grasslands. Objectives Our main goal was to determine whether a grazing disturbance alters population genetic diversity and genetic structure of the dominant species in the Inner Mongolia Steppe. Methods We performed inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular marker analysis on populations of Stipa grandis and S. krylovii which were exposed to five consecutive years of varying degrees of grazing disturbance. Results The amplification results showed that the genetic diversity of both S. grandis and S. krylovii populations varied under different grazing intensities; the highest diversity (Nei's index and Shannon's index) were under moderate disturbance, whereas the lowest under the heavy grazing. The coefficient of gene differentiation (G ST ) of S. grandis and S. krylovii populations were 16.82 and 21.00°%, respectively. These results suggest that the genetic diversity of these two dominant populations was altered by the smallscale grazing disturbance, which provides new evidence supporting the theories of landscape genetics. Conclusions The enhancement of moderate grazing on genetic diversity implies the necessity to involve animal grazing in the design of management regimes for biodiversity conservation of the Inner Mongolia steppes.

show abstract

“…For instance, red and roe deer facilitated the expansion of a rare toxic plant, Cynoglossum germanicum (Boulanger et al., ), and thus affected its spatial distribution over a 30‐year period. Sheep promoted the colonization of grassland species on newly created bare soil via epizoochory (Freund, Eichberg, Retta, & Schwabe, ); Rico, Boehmer, and Wagner (); Rico, Holderegger, Boehmer, and Wagner () also demonstrated that rotational shepherding improved landscape genetic connectivity in temperate grasslands. As such, large ungulates can promote fluxes and functional connectivity among plant populations and associated habitats, and allow the colonization of new habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epizoochorous dispersal by ungulates depends on fur, grooming and social interactions

Liehrmann¹,

Jégoux

Guilbert

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The transport phase of the animal‐mediated plant dispersal process is critical to dispersal effectiveness as it determines the spatial distribution of the diaspores released and their chance for further recruitment. Assessing this specific phase of the dispersal process generally requires combining diaspore retention times with the associated distances covered. Here, we specifically tested the effect of grooming behavior, interindividual contacts and ungulate fur on diaspore retention times and associated dispersal distances for the hooked diaspores of Xanthium strumarium L. experimentally attached to tamed individuals of three ungulate species. We used a comparative approach based on differing fur quality on different body zones of these three ungulates. During 6‐hr sessions, we monitored for grooming and social interactions that may induce intended or inadvertent diaspore detachment. Additionally, we proposed innovative approaches to directly assessing diaspore dispersal distances by red deer in situ. Fat‐tailed functions fitted diaspore retention time, highlighting the potential for long‐distance dispersal events. The longer the hair, the higher the retention capacity of diaspores in the animal's fur. As predicted, donkey retained diaspores longer than red deer and dwarf goat; and we also confirmed that diaspores attached to the short hair of the head fell off more quickly than did those on the other body zones. Dwarf goat groomed more often than both red deer and donkey, but also when it carried diaspores. Up to 14% of the diaspores detached from animal fur after specific grooming behavior. We observed, in controlled conditions, for the first time and for each ungulate species, interindividual transfers of diaspores, representing 5% of the diaspores attached to animals’ fur. Our results militate for incorporating animal behavior into plant dispersal modeling approaches.

show abstract

Directed dispersal by rotational shepherding supports landscape genetic connectivity in a calcareous grassland plant

Cited by 37 publications

References 76 publications

Ecological connectivity research in urban areas

Ecological connectivity research in urban areas

Moderate grazing promotes genetic diversity of Stipa species in the Inner Mongolian steppe

Epizoochorous dispersal by ungulates depends on fur, grooming and social interactions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About