Changes In Landscape Configuration Research Articles

Temporal and spatial responses of landscape patterns to habitat quality changes in the Poyang Lake region, China

Due to intense human activity and landscape configuration changes, evaluating habitat quality is critical for ecosystem service capacity maintenance while promoting human well-being. This study aimed to evaluate and analyze the temporal and spatial responses of landscape patterns to habitat quality changes in the Poyang Lake region. During 2000–2020, the landscape pattern in the Poyang Lake region shifted from agglomeration to fragmentation. Within this period, the area with the highest proportion of habitat quality reached a poor level within the region, and the area with the worst level experienced notable improvement. The concentration of excellent habitat quality areas was evident within the central region of Poyang Lake, as well as in the northeastern and northwestern of the entire region. The proportion of habitat quality improvement surpassed that of habitat degradation, accounting for 32.62% and 17.94%, respectively. Notably, areas characterized by moderate and good habitat quality experienced a significant upgrade to an excellent level by 2020. The results of spatial autocorrelation, as measured by Moran's I index, indicated a consistent positive trend. This value gradually increased over time, suggesting a progressive intensification in the spatial clustering of habitat quality. Furthermore, the spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality was primarily driven by CONTAG, which was the primary influential factor. An enhanced two-factor interaction, surpassing the explanatory force of the factors on their own, was observed through an analysis of the interactions between different combinations of influencing factors. The explanatory force of the CONTAG index indicated a decline in habitat quality in certain local regions. For these areas, we suggest controlling the disorderly development of construction land and transportation systems, strictly prohibiting the illegal occupation of arable land, promoting vegetation restoration, and maintaining landscape patch connectivity.

Landscape configuration alters movement behavior and space‐use of a Hawaiian forest bird community

Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered the greatest threats to ecosystems worldwide. Movement reveals how individuals meet their habitat requirements and respond to environmental heterogeneity, and thus can provide a powerful tool for investigating how animals respond to changes in landscape configuration. In our study, we examined the effects of landscape configuration on the space use and movement strategies of four endemic Hawaiian forest bird species spanning a range of foraging guilds (i.e. frugivore, nectivore, generalist). We used a landscape‐level automated radio tracking system to measure location data of 127 individuals tracked on Hawaiʻi Island in a naturally fragmented landscape created by volcanic activity in the mid‐ to late‐1800s and a nearby continuous landscape. We found that landscape configuration had a strong effect on movement patterns and space‐use of all four species. In the fragmented landscape, all species predominately occupied a single forest patch, displayed a high degree of area‐restricted search behavior, with few long‐distance movements away from their primary forest patch. These patterns contrasted significantly with those of conspecifics in the continuous landscape which exhibited relatively unconstrained movements across the forested landscape and had 3‐ to 12‐fold larger home ranges. Our findings indicate that landscape structure plays a strong role in shaping movement behavior of a tropical bird community and provides valuable insights into the behavioral mechanisms that may be important for species to persist within fragmented landscapes.

Linking Anthropogenic Landscape Perturbation to Herbivory and Pathogen Leaf Damage in Tropical Tree Communities.

Anthropogenic disturbance of tropical humid forests leads to habitat loss, biodiversity decline, landscape fragmentation, altered nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, soil erosion, pest/pathogen outbreaks, among others. Nevertheless, the impact of these alterations in multitrophic interactions, including host-pathogen and vector-pathogen dynamics, is still not well understood in wild plants. This study aimed to provide insights into the main drivers for the incidence of herbivory and plant pathogen damage, specifically, into how vegetation traits at the local and landscape scale modulate such interactions. For this purpose, in the tropical forest of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico), we characterised the foliar damage caused by herbivores and pathogens in woody vegetation of 13 sampling sites representing a gradient of forest disturbance and fragmentation in an anthropogenic landscape from well preserved to highly disturbed and fragmented areas. We also evaluated how the incidence of such damage was modulated by the vegetation and landscape attributes. We found that the incidence of damage caused by larger, mobile, generalist herbivores, was more sensitive to changes in landscape configuration, while the incidence of damage caused by small and specialised herbivores with low dispersal capacity was more influenced by vegetation and landscape composition. In relation to pathogen symptoms, the herbivore-induced foliar damage seems to be the main factor related to their incidence, indicating the enormous importance of herbivorous insects in the modulation of disease dynamics across tropical vegetation, as they could be acting as vectors and/or facilitating the entry of pathogens by breaking the foliar tissue and the plant defensive barriers. The incidence of pathogen damage also responded to vegetation structure and landscape configuration; the incidence of anthracnose, black spot, and chlorosis, for example, were favoured in sites surrounded by smaller patches and a higher edge density, as well as those with a greater aggregation of semi-evergreen forest patches. Fungal pathogens were shown to be an important cause of foliar damage for many woody species. Our results indicate that an increasing transformation and fragmentation of the tropical forest of southern Mexico could reduce the degree of specialisation in plant-herbivore interactions and enhance the proliferation of generalist herbivores (chewers and scrapers) and of mobile leaf suckers, and consequently, the proliferation of some symptoms associated with fungal pathogens such as fungus black spots and anthracnose. The symptoms associated with viral and bacterial diseases and to nutrient deficiency, such as chlorosis, could also increase in the vegetation in fragmented landscapes with important consequences in the health and productivity of wild and cultivated plant species. This is a pioneering study evaluating the effect of disturbances on multitrophic interactions, offering key insights on the main drivers of the changes in herbivory interactions and incidence of plant pathogens in tropical forests.

Exploring spatial relationship between landscape configuration and ecosystem services: A case study of Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou in China

Human activities have significantly impacted our landscapes and the functioning of our ecosystems. Landscape planning can be optimized by understanding the spatial relationships between landscape patterns and ecosystem services. However, existing research on these relationships is scarce. We sought to fill this gap with a case study of the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou area in China. Changes in landscape configuration were estimated in terms of the number of patches, edge density, Shannon's diversity index, and aggregation index. We applied the spatial analysis tools in GIS and InVEST to examine the following five ecosystem services: grain production, water retention, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and habitat quality. We performed multiscale geographically-weighted regression to investigate the spatial relationships between landscape configuration and the provision of ecosystem services between 2000 and 2020. The results showed that the landscape was fragmented and diversified with a decline in various ecosystem services. The spatial relationships were characterized by non-stationarity and heterogeneity. The effect of landscape configuration on ecosystem services generally weakened, and landscape aggregation had the strongest influence on service provision. Our findings serve as a reference for the formulation of policy on landscape planning and management.

Research on the spatiotemporal coupling relationships between land use/land cover compositions or patterns and the surface urban heat island effect.

Urbanization leads to changes in landscape configuration and land use/land cover (LULC) patterns, and these changes are important factors affecting the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect. However, from the perspective of spatiotemporal changes, quantitative analytical results regarding the impacts of the LULC composition, configuration, and pattern in inland plateau lakeside cities on the SUHI effect, and the responsive relationships among these factors remain unclear. By combining satellite remote sensing data with analytical methods, such as urban-rural gradients, spatial statistics, and landscape pattern indices, the impacts of LULC changes on the SUHI effect in Kunming, China, are revealed. The results show the following. (1) The explosive growth in impervious surfaces (ISs) caused by urbanization, leading to changes in the LULC composition, configuration and pattern, is the main reason for the deterioration of the SUHI effect. Over the past 30years, Kunming's ISs have increased by 304.58 km2, SUHI has expanded by 764.26 km2, and the regional average land surface temperature (LST) has increased by 1°C. (2) This study also found that a large area of bare ground is another important reason for the sharp rise in LST, explaining why bare land (BL) has the highest average LST (28.72°C). (3) The pattern of LULC can well explain the spatial distribution characteristics of SUHIs. The normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference bareness index (NDBaI), and LST have the same change curve along the urban-rural gradient, while the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI), and LST have opposite trends. (4) ISs and water body (WB) are the main types of warming and cooling, respectively, but the warming effect of ISs is greater than the cooling effect of WB. From the average value of the correlation coefficient with LST, NDBI (0.84) > MNDWI (-0.63). (5) Kunming's remote sensing index values do not have simple linear relationships with the LST. NDBaI, NDBI, and LST show significant exponential relationships, and NDVI, MNDWI, and LST show significant quadratic polynomial relationships. (6) The dominant landscape type determines the correlation between the landscape shape index (LSI) and the LST of green spaces (GSs). (7) Adopting a simple and regular landscape layout can effectively reduce the SUHI effect. These research results could provide a scientific decision-making basis for the spatial urban planning and ecological construction of Kunming and could have practical significance for guiding the green, healthy, and sustainable development of the city.

Influences of Landscape Configuration on River Water Quality

The present study investigated the effects of changes in landscape configuration on river water quality, which is calculated by chemical export coefficients, using spatial data onto 31 catchments in the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea basin by applying stepwise multivariate regression models. The water quality modeling has been carried out applying the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium, and eight landscape metrics (including interspersion juxtaposition index, percentage of like adjacencies, aggregation index, clumpiness index, normalized landscape shape index, patch cohesion index, landscape division index, and splitting index), by which landscape configuration is analyzed. The results indicated that the sulfate (0.25 ± 0.33 gr ha−1yr−1), bicarbonate (0.61 ± 0.87 gr ha−1 yr−1), chlorine (0.17 ± 0.23 gr ha−1 yr−1), calcium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1), magnesium (0.05 ± 0.07 gr ha−1 yr−1), and sodium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1) are annually exported from the study catchments into the rivers. The change in landscape configuration has significantly explained the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. The findings showed the cohesion and coherence of the permanently irrigated land patches resulting in the discontinuity of the broad-leaved forest and grassland ecosystems degraded river water quality.

Habitat Specificity Modulates the Response of Small Mammals to Habitat Fragmentation, Loss, and Quality in a Neotropical Savanna

Landscape conversion of natural environments into agriculture and pasture are driving a marked biodiversity decline in the tropics. Consequences of fragmentation might depend upon habitat amount in the landscape, while the quality of remnants can also affect some species. These factors have been poorly studied in relation to different spatial scales. Furthermore, the impacts of these human-driven alterations may go beyond species loss, possibly causing a loss of ecosystem function and services. In this study, we investigated how changes in landscape configuration (patch size and isolation), habitat loss (considering a landscape gradient of 10, 25, and 40% of remnant forest cover), and habitat quality (forest structure) affect small mammal abundance, richness, taxonomic/functional diversity, and species composition in fragmented landscapes of semideciduous forests in the Brazilian Cerrado. Analyses were performed separately for habitat generalists and forest specialists. We live-trapped small mammals and measured habitat quality descriptors four times in 36 forest patches over the years 2018 and 2019, encompassing both rainy and dry seasons, with a total capture effort of 45,120 trap-nights. Regression analyses indicated that the effect of landscape configuration was not dependent on the proportion of habitat amount in the landscape to determine small mammal assemblages. However, both patch size and habitat loss impacted different aspects of the assemblages in distinct ways. Smaller patches were mainly linked to an overall increase in small mammal abundance, while the abundance of habitat generalists was also negatively affected by habitat amount. Generalist species richness was determined by the proportion of habitat amount in the landscape. Specialist richness was influenced by patch forest quality only, suggesting that species with more demanding habitat requirements might respond to fragmentation and habitat loss at finer scales. Taxonomic or functional diversity were not influenced by landscape structure or habitat quality. However, patch size and habitat amount in the landscape were the major drivers of change in small mammal species composition in semideciduous forests in the Brazilian savanna.

A global review of the threats of mining on mid-sized and large mammals

Mineral exploitation threatens wildlife by the contamination of soil and water sources, vegetation suppression, and due to changes in landscape configuration. The large and mid-sized forest-dependent mammals need large areas to support their ecological needs, and are frequently impacted by these landscape alterations. Hitherto, there have not been comprehensive reviews of scientific papers reporting on the impacts of the legal mineral exploitation on these animals worldwide. We used the Web of Science and Scopus to select peer-reviewed research articles reporting on those impacts on the large and mid-sized mammals with terrestrial and arboreal habits. Thus, we i) classified the scientific articles according to their methodological approach, ii) examined the main methods of data collection, iii) identified the main impacts recorded, iv) associated the number of studies published by country to the measures of social welfare and economic growth of countries, and v) evaluated the density of mineral resources within the species extent of occurrence, as a proxy to the threat level of mining activities on these species. We found only 39 peer-reviewed articles describing the impacts of mining activities on these animals. These researches mostly quantify the population reduction associated to mining activities, based on line-transect surveys of wildlife. Forest suppression around mining zones is the most frequent threat assessed, and is reported as the main impact on these mammals. We found 153 mammal species to be affected by mining activities, but mining is not mentioned as a threat in the IUCN Red list for 84% (128 spp) of these. Thus, we suggest the inclusion of mining threats in the IUCN assessments of these species, and we urge researchers to intensify the studies of the direct and indirect impacts of mining on large and mid-sized mammals across all ecosystems.

Understanding the effects of human disturbance on scorpion diversity in Brazilian tropical forests

The effects of land use conversion on the maintenance of biodiversity remains a major issue in conservation biology. With this as context, recent studies have successfully evaluated the potential of scorpions as bio-indicators of human disturbance. Here, we explored this assumption to identify the effects of landscape structure on scorpion assemblages distributed in two tropical environments in Brazil, with different levels of human disturbance. Scorpions were collected from 28 sampling localities across the Atlantic Forest (n = 12) and Caatinga dry forest (n = 16), resulting in 3,781 specimens from 13 species, 5 genera, and 2 families. We found that scorpion species composition and abundance were more sensitive to changes in landscape configuration than was species richness. Additionally, scorpion assemblage responses were quite different between the two environments. From this observation we highlighted three main findings: (i) the Atlantic Forest assemblage possesses an abundance-dependent response to landscape; (ii) variation in species composition of Atlantic Forest and Caatinga were affected by landscape diversity and presence of croplands, respectively; (iii) the Atlantic Forest is inhabited by assemblages that are more sensitive to landscape changes than that is Caatinga. We argue that a site-dependent process may explain the effects of human activities on scorpion assemblages at local and regional scale. Moreover, we provide substantial information for decision-makers to support their conservation strategies for neglected ecosystems, such as those present in Caatinga and the Atlantic Forest.

Assessing soundscape disturbance through hierarchical models and acoustic indices: A case study on a shelterwood logged northern Michigan forest

Abstract Assessing the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on wildlife and natural resources is a necessary conservation task. The soundscape is a critical habitat component for acoustically communicating organisms, but the use of the soundscape as a tool for assessing disturbance impacts has been relatively unexplored until recently. Here we present a broad modeling framework for assessing disturbance impacts on soundscapes, which we apply to quantify the influence of a shelterwood logging on soundscapes in northern Michigan. Our modeling approach can be broadly applied to assess anthropogenic disturbance impacts on soundscapes. The approach accommodates inherent differences in control and treatment sites to improve inference about treatment effects, while also accounting for extraneous variables (e.g., rain) that influence acoustic indices. Recordings were obtained at 13 sites before and after a shelterwood logging. Four sites were in the logging region and nine sites served as control recordings outside the logging region. We quantify the soundscapes using common acoustic indices (Normalized Difference Soundscape Index (NDSI), Acoustic Entropy (H), Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI), Acoustic Evenness Index (AEI)) and Welch Power Spectral Density (PSD) values. We build two hierarchical Bayesian models to quantify the changes in the soundscape over the study period. Our analysis reveals no long-lasting effects of the shelterwood logging on the soundscape as measured by the NDSI, but analysis of H, AEI, and PSD suggest changes in the evenness of sounds across the frequency spectrum, indicating a potential shift in the avian species communicating in the soundscapes as a result of the logging. Further, our analysis confirms previous findings that the ACI does not accurately reflect changes in landscape configuration. Multiple model validation techniques (i.e., comparison of parameter estimates and the widely applicable information criterion (WAIC)) reveal our proposed hierarchical Bayesian models outperform more simple models used for hypothesis testing. Acoustic recordings, in conjunction with this modeling framework, can deliver cost efficient assessment of disturbance impacts on the landscape and underlying biodiversity as represented through the soundscape.

Rewilding processes shape the use of Mediterranean landscapes by an avian top scavenger

The Mediterranean biome has seen a great decline in its rural population. This trend has been followed by an abandonment of agricultural and livestock practices, which has provided an opportunity for rewilding to take place. Rewilding processes can modify the availability of carrion resources for avian obligate scavengers and reduce accessible open areas due to the increase of shrub and forest. We examined how changes in landscape configuration in the past five decades (1956–2011) mediate the foraging behaviour of griffon vultures. Particularly, we examined whether vultures use those areas under natural succession and with a high availability of wild ungulate carcasses. We used GPS information yielded by 30 adult griffon vultures exploiting large regions of southern Spain. We determined (a) habitat use considering land uses and food availability and (b) how tracked individuals responded to areas in different stages of rewilding. Our results showed that vultures preferentially used Mediterranean scrublands, woodlands and the agroforest Mediterranean ecosystem called dehesa, as well as areas with high food resources, namely wild ungulates in winter and a mixture of wild ungulates and livestock in summer. Due to a higher abundance of wild ungulates, vultures forage preferentially in areas with low levels of rewilding, either for being in the first stages of natural succession or for not having experienced further rewilding since the middle of the last century. Rewilding processes are expected to continue in the future affecting the scavenger guild structure and function deeply. Improved management will be essential to preserve ecological processes, ecosystem services and populations of endangered species.

Conversion of forestlands to blueberries: Assessing implications for habitat quality in Alabaha river watershed in Southeastern Georgia, United States

This study assesses the dynamics of land use changes (LUCs) and its effects on the habitat quality in the Alabaha River watershed (985 km2) located in southeastern Georgia, where about 3940 ha of evergreen forest and pasture/hay moved to blueberries between 2010 and 2017. Four (2006, 2010, 2015, and 2017) land use maps were prepared with an overall accuracy of 89% using supervised classification methods. Based on these maps, LUCs for the year 2022 and 2030 were projected using Markov Multi-Layer Perceptron approach. FRAGSTATS was used to assess changes in landscape configuration and composition over time. Using the InVEST model, changes in habitat quality were quantified over time. The model projected that the land under evergreen forest and pasture/hay would decrease by 2% and 1.5%, respectively, whereas the land under blueberry would increase by 3.7% between 2015 and 2030. The Index of Landscape Conservation declined by 19% between 2006 and 2030. The mean habitat quality decreased by 37% in the same period. The areas of high habitat quality were concentrated in regions with less-modified land cover. A collaborative approach involving stakeholder groups is needed for the management of biodiversity and other ESs in the Alabaha River watershed in the context of deforestation caused by blueberry production.

Fragment configuration or environmental quality? Understanding what really matters for the conservation of native mammals in the Atlantic Forest of Argentina

The fragmentation of natural environments is one of the most important threats to biodiversity and involves changes in landscape configuration and habitat quality. The Atlantic Forest of South America has been highly fragmented, which creates concern for the conservation of its biodiversity. We evaluated the effects of forest loss and fragmentation on the terrestrial mammal assemblage of the Atlantic Forest of Misiones, Argentina. The area still contains large fragments and a forest cover >50%. We evaluated the effect of the configuration of the fragments (area, isolation) and the quality of the environment surrounding them (% of forest, land uses, poaching). We sampled mammal assemblages with camera-traps. We used generalized linear models, with the number of species in smaller forest fragments (49 stations) and the difference in their composition to that of the largest forest fragment (control situation; 53 stations) as response variables. Species richness in the fragments increased with the proportion of forest in their surroundings and decreased with the distance to population sources. The dissimilarity of the assemblages of smaller fragments to those of the largest fragment increased with forest disturbance and by the contrast of the land uses (e.g., annual crops) surrounding the fragments. We modeled and mapped these effects, which can be used as spatially explicit planning tools for the conservation of the mammal assemblage in this landscape. The effect of fragmentation on the mammal assemblage is mediated by both anthropic effects that affect the quality of the environment and by the spatial configuration of fragments in the landscape.

Quantifying hydrologic controls on local- and landscape-scale indicators of coastal wetland loss.

Coastal wetlands have evolved to withstand stressful abiotic conditions through the maintenance of hydrologic feedbacks between vegetation production and flooding. However, disruption of these feedbacks can lead to ecosystem collapse, or a regime shift from vegetated wetland to open water. To prevent the loss of critical coastal wetland habitat, we must improve understanding of the abiotic-biotic linkages among flooding and wetland stability. The aim of this research was to identify characteristic landscape patterns and thresholds of wetland degradation that can be used to identify areas of vulnerability, reduce flooding threats and improve habitat quality. We measured local- and landscape-scale responses of coastal wetland vegetation to flooding stress in healthy and degrading coastal wetlands. We hypothesized that conversion of Spartina patens wetlands to open water could be defined by a distinct change in landscape configuration pattern, and that this change would occur at a discrete elevation threshold. Despite similarities in total land and water cover, we observed differences in the landscape configuration of vegetated and open water pixels in healthy and degrading wetlands. Healthy wetlands were more aggregated, and degrading wetlands were more fragmented. Generally, greater aggregation was associated with higher wetland elevation and better drainage, compared with fragmented wetlands, which had lower elevation and poor drainage. The relationship between vegetation cover and elevation was non-linear, and the conversion from vegetated wetland to open water occurred beyond an elevation threshold of hydrologic stress. The elevation threshold defined a transition zone where healthy, aggregated, wetland converted to a degrading, fragmented, wetland beyond an elevation threshold of 0.09 m [1988 North American Vertical Datum (NAVD88)] [0.27 m mean sea level (MSL)], and complete conversion to open water occurred beyond 0.03 m NAVD88 (0.21 m MSL). This work illustrates that changes in landscape configuration can be used as an indicator of wetland loss. Furthermore, in conjunction with specific elevation thresholds, these data can inform restoration and conservation planning to maximize wetland stability in anticipation of flooding threats.

When Landscape Ecology Meets Physiology: Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Resource Allocation Trade-Offs

Landscape heterogeneity is a general feature of natural environments, strongly affected by habitat fragmentation. It can affect a population’s dynamics and probability of extinction. Fragmentation increases among-patch isolation and decreases patch size, resulting in a reduction in available resources in smaller patches. To persist, animals must be able to translate the variation imposed by fragmentation into adaptive energy allocation strategies that enable populations to avoid extinction. This means that physiological adaptations are expected to reflect changes in landscape configuration, especially in the size of the natural habitat patches and degree of isolation among them. We propose a novel, integrative conceptual framework in which spatial characteristics of the environment, imposed by fragmentation, lead to specific life-history traits that increase survival (at the individual level) and decrease the likelihood of extinction (as an emergent property at the population level). We predict that a resource allocation trade-off between the life-history traits of reproduction and dispersal along a fragmentation gradient will emerge. Populations occurring in patches of different sizes and isolations along gradients of fragmentation and productivity will exhibit differences in the strength of the dispersal-reproduction trade-off. Emerging from this framework are several explicit and testable hypotheses that predict that the dispersal-reproduction trade-off will be shaped by landscape heterogeneity imposed by fragmentation. Hence, this trade-off serves as the mechanistic link that translates environmental variation created by fragmentation into variation in species abundances and population dynamics by lowering local extinction probability and increasing overall population persistence.

Animal movement varies with resource availability, landscape configuration and body size: a conceptual model and empirical example

Context Animals must move to find food, shelter and mates, and escape predation and competition. Changes in landscape configuration and resource availability can disrupt natural movement, negatively impacting fitness and population persistence.

Landscape-level effects on aboveground biomass of tropical forests: A conceptual framework.

Despite the general recognition that fragmentation can reduce forest biomass through edge effects, a systematic review of the literature does not reveal a clear role of edges in modulating biomass loss. Additionally, the edge effects appear to be constrained by matrix type, suggesting that landscape composition has an influence on biomass stocks. The lack of empirical evidence of pervasive edge-related biomass losses across tropical forests highlights the necessity for a general framework linking landscape structure with aboveground biomass. Here, we propose a conceptual model in which landscape composition and configuration mediate the magnitude of edge effects and seed-flux among forest patches, which ultimately has an influence on biomass. Our model hypothesizes that a rapid reduction of biomass can occur below a threshold of forest cover loss. Just below this threshold, we predict that changes in landscape configuration can strongly influence the patch's isolation, thus enhancing biomass loss. Moreover, we expect a synergism between landscape composition and patch attributes, where matrix type mediates the effects of edges on species decline, particularly for shade-tolerant species. To test our conceptual framework, we propose a sampling protocol where the effects of edges, forest amount, forest isolation, fragment size, and matrix type on biomass stocks can be assessed both collectively and individually. The proposed model unifies the combined effects of landscape and patch structure on biomass into a single framework, providing a new set of main drivers of biomass loss in human-modified landscapes. We argue that carbon trading agendas (e.g., REDD+) and carbon-conservation initiatives must go beyond the effects of forest loss and edges on biomass, considering the whole set of effects on biomass related to changes in landscape composition and configuration.

Landscape Transformation in an Urbanizing Area in Laguna, Philippines: Assessing Trends and Policy Implications on the ASEAN Integration

Landscape transformation (LT) is increasingly shaping the earth’s surfaces. Despite the importance of LT analysis in land use planning and environmental management, there is paucity of informationon LT especially in developing countries such as the Philippines. The paper seeks to analyze the trend and policy implications of LT in one of the country’s urbanizing landscapes in Luzon by using landscape dynamics as its framework and geographic information system as the analytical tool. Land use-land cover (LULC) maps for the periods 2003, 2005, and 2010 were sourced from NAMRIA and digitized, geoprocessed, and recoded to determine the transformation. Nine LULC classes were identified and subjected to patch analysis to quantify their changes in number, size, and class area proportion within the period of analysis. The landscape was predominantly agriculturein 2003-2005 periods but is highly dominated bybuilt-up area in 2010, potentially reducing agricultural production and increasing inundation. Patch analysis also indicates changes in landscape configuration with reduced mean patch size and increased patch number from 2003 to 2010. These trends necessitate the implementation of a policy that ensures sustainable security of life, food, and property of the local communities to make them competitive during ASEAN integration.

A Holistic Landscape Description Reveals That Landscape Configuration Changes More over Time than Composition: Implications for Landscape Ecology Studies.

BackgroundSpace-for-time substitution—that is, the assumption that spatial variations of a system can explain and predict the effect of temporal variations—is widely used in ecology. However, it is questionable whether it can validly be used to explain changes in biodiversity over time in response to land-cover changes.HypothesisHere, we hypothesize that different temporal vs spatial trajectories of landscape composition and configuration may limit space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology. Land-cover conversion changes not just the surface areas given over to particular types of land cover, but also affects isolation, patch size and heterogeneity. This means that a small change in land cover over time may have only minor repercussions on landscape composition but potentially major consequences for landscape configuration.MethodsUsing land-cover maps of the Paris region for 1982 and 2003, we made a holistic description of the landscape disentangling landscape composition from configuration. After controlling for spatial variations, we analyzed and compared the amplitudes of changes in landscape composition and configuration over time.ResultsFor comparable spatial variations, landscape configuration varied more than twice as much as composition over time. Temporal changes in composition and configuration were not always spatially matched.SignificanceThe fact that landscape composition and configuration do not vary equally in space and time calls into question the use of space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology studies. The instability of landscapes over time appears to be attributable to configurational changes in the main. This may go some way to explaining why the landscape variables that account for changes over time in biodiversity are not the same ones that account for the spatial distribution of biodiversity.

Effects of landscape composition and configuration on pollination in a native herb: a field experiment.

Bumble bee abundance in agricultural landscapes is known to decrease with increasing distance from seminatural grasslands, but whether the pollination of bumble-bee-pollinated wild plants shows a similar pattern is less well known. In addition, the relative effects of landscape composition (landscape heterogeneity) and landscape configuration (distance from seminatural grassland) on wild plant pollination, and the interaction between these landscape effects, have not been studied using landscape-level replication. We performed a field experiment to disentangle these landscape effects on the pollination of a native herb, the sticky catchfly (Lychnis viscaria), while accounting for the proportion of oilseed rape across landscapes and the local abundance of bee forage flowers. We measured pollen limitation (the degree to which seed set is pollen-limited), seed set, and seed set stability using potted plants placed in landscapes that differed in heterogeneity (composition) and distance from seminatural grassland (configuration). Pollen limitation and seed set in individual plants did not respond to landscape composition, landscape configuration, or proportion of oilseed rape. Instead, seed set increased with increasing local bee forage flower cover. However, we found within-plant variability in pollen limitation and seed set to increase with increasing distance from seminatural pasture. Our results suggest that average within-plant levels of pollen limitation and seed set respond less swiftly than the within-plant variability in pollen limitation and seed set to changes in landscape configuration. Although landscape effects on pollination were less important than predicted, we conclude that landscape configuration and local habitat characteristics play larger roles than landscape composition in the pollination of L. viscaria.