Reserves, Resilience and Dynamic Landscapes

Bengtsson, Janne; Angelstam, Per; Elmqvist, Thomas; Emanuelsson, Urban; Folke, Carl; Ihse, Margareta; Moberg, Fredrik; Nyström, Magnus

doi:10.1639/0044-7447(2003)032[0389:rradl]2.0.co;2

Cited by 198 publications

(278 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Known as 'insurance hypothesis' [107,108], the idea that biodiverse systems are more redundant and therefore exhibit a higher resilience is supported by some experimental evidence [109,110]. In particular, postdisturbance recovery is enhanced by species redundancy associated with response diversity [111], which requires that taxa with different response traits exist within the same functional group [112,113].…”

Section: Effect Of Hydroclimatic Fluctuations On Ecological Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic variability in dryland regions: impacts on ecosystem dynamics and food security

D’Odorico

Bhattachan

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Research on ecosystem and societal response to global environmental change typically considers the effects of shifts in mean climate conditions. There is, however, some evidence of ongoing changes also in the variance of hydrologic and climate fluctuations. A relatively high interannual variability is a distinctive feature of the hydrologic regime of dryland regions, particularly at the desert margins. Hydrologic variability has an important impact on ecosystem dynamics, food security and societal reliance on ecosystem services in water-limited environments. Here, we investigate some of the current patterns of hydrologic variability in drylands around the world and review the major effects of hydrologic fluctuations on ecosystem resilience, maintenance of biodiversity and food security. We show that random hydrologic fluctuations may enhance the resilience of dryland ecosystems by obliterating bistable deterministic behaviours and threshold-like responses to external drivers. Moreover, by increasing biodiversity and the associated ecosystem redundancy, hydrologic variability can indirectly enhance post-disturbance recovery, i.e. ecosystem resilience.

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Section: Effect Of Hydroclimatic Fluctuations On Ecological Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic variability in dryland regions: impacts on ecosystem dynamics and food security

D’Odorico

Bhattachan

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Hence, if reforestation of Budongo Forest Reserve would continue to the extent that the woodland areas would be lost, the biodiversity of the reserve would probably decrease. For purposes of conserving woody plants in a dynamic landscape, it is thus important that each vegetation type represented is included and maintained within the conservation area (Bengtsson et al 2003). In the area under study, fire disturbance is a requirement for species coexistence (Shea et al 2004).…”

Section: The Effect Of Continuing Reforestation On the Biodiversity Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition of woody species in a dynamic forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Uganda: implications for conservation and management

Nangendo¹,

Steege²,

Bongers³

2006

Forest Diversity and Management

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Abstract. Forest-woodland-savannah mosaics are a common feature in the East African landscape. For the conservation of the woody species that occur in such landscapes, the species patterns and the factors that maintain it need to be understood. We studied the woody species distribution in a forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. The existing vegetation gradients were analyzed using data from a total of 591 plots of 400 or 500 m 2 each. Remotely sensed data was used to explore current vegetation cover and the gradients there in for the whole area. A clear species gradient exists in the study area ranging from forest, where there is least disturbance, to wooded grassland, where frequent fire disturbance occurs. Most species are not limited to a specific part of the gradient although many show a maximum abundance at some point along the gradient. Fire and accessibility to the protected area were closely related to variation in species composition along the ordination axis with species like Cynometra alexandri and Uvariopsis congensis occurring at one end of the gradient and Combretum guenzi and Lonchocarpus laxiflorus at the other. The vegetation cover classes identified in the area differed in diversity, density and, especially, basal area. All vegetation cover classes, except open woodland, had indicator species. Diospyros abyssinica, Uvariopsis congensis, Holoptelea grandis and all Celtis species were the indicator species for the forest class, Terminalia velutina and Albizia grandbracteata for closed woodland, Grewia mollis and Combretum mole for very open woodland and Lonchocarpus laxiflorus, Grewia bicolor and Combretum guenzi for the wooded grassland class. Eleven of the species occurred in all cover classes and most of the species that occurred in more than one vegetation cover class showed peak abundance in a specific cover class. Species composition in the study area changes gradually from forest to savannah. Along the gradient, the cover classes are distinguishable in terms of species composition and vegetation structure. These classes are, however, interrelated in species composition. For conservation of the full range of the species within this East African landscape, the mosaic has to be managed as an integrated whole. Burning should be varied over the area with the forest not being burnt at all and the wooded grassland burnt regularly. The different vegetation types that occur between these two extremes should be maintained using a varied fire regime.

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“…With large mammals increasingly confined to protected areas (Ceballos et al 2005;Karanth et al 2010), understanding how to maintain landscape-scale ecological processes that support diverse mammal communities within reserve boundaries is a critical conservation priority (Woodroffe & Ginsberg 1998;Bengtsson et al 2003;Berger 2004;van Aarde & Jackson 2007;Loarie et al 2009a, b). Sustainable predatoreprey interactions exemplify con-ditions that are difficult to achieve within protected areas (Sinclair et al , 2008Tambling & Du Toit 2005;Ripple & Beschta 2006;Hayward & Somers 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lion hunting behaviour and vegetation structure in an African savanna

2013

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Keywords:Bayesian statistics Carnegie Airborne Observatory GPS telemetry LiDAR lion Panthera leo predatoreprey interaction vegetation structure Emerging evidence suggests that male lions are not dependent on female's hunting skills but are in fact successful hunters. But difficulty locating kills and objectively characterizing landscapes has complicated the comparison of male and female lion hunting strategies. We used airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) measurements of vegetation structure in Kruger National Park, combined with global positioning system (GPS) telemetry data on lion, Panthera leo, kills to quantify lines-of-sight where lion kills occurred compared with areas where lions rested, while controlling for time of day. We found significant differences in use of vegetation structure by male and female lions during hunts. While male lions killed in landscapes with much shorter linesof-sight (16.2 m) than those in which they rested, there were no significant differences for female lions. These results were consistent across sizes of prey species. The influence of vegetation structure in shaping predatoreprey interactions is often hypothe-sized, but quantitative evidence has been scarce. Although our sample sizes were limited, our results provide a mechanism, ambush hunting versus social hunting in the open, to explain why hunting success of male lions might equal that of females. This study serves as a case study for more complete studies with larger samples sizes and illustrates how LiDAR and GPS telemetry can be used to provide new insight into lion hunting behaviour.

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Reserves, Resilience and Dynamic Landscapes

Cited by 198 publications

References 59 publications

Hydrologic variability in dryland regions: impacts on ecosystem dynamics and food security

Hydrologic variability in dryland regions: impacts on ecosystem dynamics and food security

Composition of woody species in a dynamic forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Uganda: implications for conservation and management

Lion hunting behaviour and vegetation structure in an African savanna

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