Impact of landscape fragmentation on a specialised woodland bat,Rhinolophus hipposideros

For habitat specialists, fragmentation has major consequences as it means less suitable habitat for the species to live in. In a fragmented landscape, we would expect larger, but spatially more clustered, foraging ranges. We studied the impact of landscape fragmentation on the foraging range and habitat exploitation of a specialised forest bat by radiotracking 16 female lesser horseshoe bats Rhinolophus hipposideros in a landscape with connected woodland structures and in a highly fragmented landscape in Carinthia, Austria.Contrary to our expectations, spatial foraging behaviour was not influenced by fragmentation. No differences in the behaviour of the bats between the sites were evident for the foraging ranges (minimum convex polygon, MCP), the core foraging areas (50% kernel), nor the mean or the maximum distances from the roost. However, in the highly fragmented landscape, the foraging activity of individuals was spatially more clustered and the overall MCP of all bats of a colony was greater compared to the less fragmented landscape.Woodland was the most important foraging habitat for the lesser horseshoe bats at both study sites. Habitat selection at the individual MCPs was evident only at the site with low fragmentation. However, in the core foraging areas, woodland was significantly selected over all other habitat types at both study sites.We conclude that (1) conservation measures for colonies of lesser horseshoe bats should be undertaken within 2.5 km of the nursery roost, (2) woodland is the key foraging habitat particularly in the vicinity of the roost, and (3) any loss of woodland near the colonial roosts are likely to negatively influence the colony, since these bats do not seem to be able to adapt their spatial foraging behaviour in a degraded landscape. The inflexible spatial behaviour of this specialised bat highlights the need to compensate for any habitat loss within the foraging range of a bat colony.     

The Habitat Amount Hypothesis implies negative effects of habitat fragmentation on species richness

The habitat amount hypothesis (HAH) predicts that species richness in a habitat site increases with the amount of habitat in the ‘local landscape’ defined by an appropriate distance around the site, with no distinct effects of the size of the habitat patch in which the site is located. It has been stated that a consequence of the HAH, if supported, would be that it is unnecessary to consider habitat configuration to predict or manage biodiversity patterns, and that conservation strategies should focus on habitat amount regardless of fragmentation. Here, I assume that the HAH holds and apply the HAH predictions to all habitat sites over entire landscapes that have the same amount of habitat but differ in habitat configuration. By doing so, I show that the HAH actually implies clearly negative effects of habitat fragmentation, and of other spatial configuration changes, on species richness in all or many of the habitat sites in the landscape, and that these habitat configuration effects are distinct from those of habitat amount in the landscape. I further show that, contrary to current interpretations, the HAH is compatible with a steeper slope of the species–area relationship for fragmented than for continuous habitat, and with higher species richness for a single large patch than for several small patches with the same total area (SLOSS). This suggests the need to revise the ways in which the HAH has been interpreted and can be actually tested. The misinterpretation of the HAH has arisen from confounding and overlooking the differences in the spatial scales involved: the individual habitat site at which the HAH gives predictions, the local landscape around an individual site and the landscapes or regions (with multiple habitat sites and different local landscapes) that need to be analysed and managed. The HAH has been erroneously viewed as negating or diminishing the relevance of fragmentation effects, while it actually supports the importance of habitat configuration for biodiversity. I conclude that, even in the cases where the HAH holds, habitat fragmentation and configuration are important for understanding and managing species distributions in the landscape.     

Estimating Cetacean Carrying Capacity Based on Spacing Behaviour

Conservation of large ocean wildlife requires an understanding of how they use space. In Western Australia, the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) population is growing at a minimum rate of 10% per year. An important consideration for conservation based management in space-limited environments, such as coastal resting areas, is the potential expansion in area use by humpback whales if the carrying capacity of existing areas is exceeded. Here we determined the theoretical carrying capacity of a known humpback resting area based on the spacing behaviour of pods, where a resting area is defined as a sheltered embayment along the coast. Two separate approaches were taken to estimate this distance. The first used the median nearest neighbour distance between pods in relatively dense areas, giving a spacing distance of 2.16 km (±0.94). The second estimated the spacing distance as the radius at which 50% of the population included no other pods, and was calculated as 1.93 km (range: 1.62–2.50 km). Using these values, the maximum number of pods able to fit into the resting area was 698 and 872 pods, respectively. Given an average observed pod size of 1.7 whales, this equates to a carrying capacity estimate of between 1187 and 1482 whales at any given point in time. This study demonstrates that whale pods do maintain a distance from each other, which may determine the number of animals that can occupy aggregation areas where space is limited. This requirement for space has implications when considering boundaries for protected areas or competition for space with the fishing and resources sectors.     

Spatial and temporal variation in flight morphology in the butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Some studies on insects have found a relationship between habitat structure and investment in dispersal-related traits. In this study we compared the morphology of the butterfly Melitaea cinxia from five sites on the large Baltic island Öland that differed markedly in degree of fragmentation and size. Both wild-caught adults and individuals reared in a split-plot design were compared. We found significant site differences in size-adjusted thorax mass and total body mass. Male thorax mass was on average larger among the sites with the highest degree of habitat fragmentation. However, due to significant sex–site interactions, males and females may have adapted differently to the habitat fragmentation. Using museum specimens, we also analysed changes in morphology, finding an increase in size (measured as head and thorax width) over time. Thorax width appears to have increased among females and decreased among males. Possible explanations include increasing fragmentation of the landscape and changes in population density.  © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 77 , 445–453.     

Comparative Population Genetic Structure of the Endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot,Isoodon obesulus,in Fragmented Landscapes of Southern Australia

Genetic connectivity is a key factor for maintaining the persistence of populations in fragmented landscapes. In highly modified landscapes such us peri-urban areas, organisms’ dispersal among fragmented habitat patches can be reduced due to the surrounding matrix, leading to subsequent decreased gene flow and increased potential extinction risk in isolated sub-populations. However, few studies have compared within species how dispersal/gene flow varies between regions and among different forms of matrix that might be encountered. In the current study, we investigated gene flow and dispersal in an endangered marsupial, the southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) in a heavily modified peri-urban landscape in South Australia, Australia. We used 14 microsatellite markers to genotype 254 individuals which were sampled from 15 sites. Analyses revealed significant genetic structure. Our analyses also indicated that dispersal was mostly limited to neighbouring sites. Comparisons of these results with analyses of a different population of the same species revealed that gene flow/dispersal was more limited in this peri-urban landscape than in a pine plantation landscape approximately 400 km to the south-east. These findings increase our understanding of how the nature of fragmentation can lead to profound differences in levels of genetic connectivity among populations of the same species.     

社区水平森林景观格局动态特征与驱动因素

基于高分辨率SPOT-5影像、TM影像和农户调查数据,以及相关辅助数据,选取三峡库区典型森林大县石柱县三星乡石星村为样区,利用景观格局指数与Logistic回归分析法,对1994—2014年间的森林景观格局的动态特征及其影响因素进行分析,旨在丰富人们对社区水平森林景观格局动态的理解和认识,为森林景观恢复和可持续经营策略的制定提供科学依据。结果表明:(1)样区森林景观一直占据20年间景观基质的主导地位,空间分布上退化原始林主要集中分布在中东部低山、深丘区,次生林、退化林地和人工林呈镶嵌格局,分散于主要基质性景观中;(2)20年间样区森林景观整体呈先减少后增加的"U"型格局,表现为1994—2004年间的退化与2004—2014年间的恢复两个截然相反的过程,且这一过程主要发生在森林景观与水田、旱地、居民点、道路等接壤区;(3)2004—2014年间森林景观的演化趋势与1994—2004年间整体上呈反向趋势,空间格局上,这一阶段森林景观的恢复主要出现在1994—2004年间森林景观所发生退化的区域;(4)20年间样区森林景观在斑块水平上呈明显异质性分布,3个截面年份不同森林景观破碎化程度的总排序均为退化林地人工林次生林退化原始林,且退化原始林、次生林和退化林地的破碎度变化趋势相同,均为先增后减;(5)20年间样区森林景观在景观水平上的破碎度呈现先增强后减弱趋势,且2014年的破碎化程度恢复至低于1994年的水平,进一步说明在退化后的森林景观恢复过程中,生态完整性的恢复速度远低于破碎速度;(6)社会经济因素对20年间样区森林景观变化的影响最突出,其中,最主要的影响因素是人口密度变化,先增后减的变化使生态压力随之增减,进而导致森林景观的退化与恢复。其次是农民人均纯收入变化,特别是2004—2014年农民人均纯收入的增加,促进能源结构的转型,减少了对森林景观的依赖和干扰。空间距离对森林景观的影响具有稳定的持续作用,居民对森林景观的干扰多经由距离因素而实现。自然因素控制大地貌格局,中短时期内对森林景观变化影响不大,次生林和退化林地因处于适宜开发的边缘地带,受自然环境影响较大。     

黔中喀斯特山地城市景观稳定性评价与特征分析

城市景观稳定性是对城市生态环境进行分析和评价的基础,对城市景观生态安全格局和景观可持续性具有十分重要的意义。以典型喀斯特山地城市贵阳市为研究对象,以2008年、2013年和2017年景观类型为主要数据。运用蔓延度指数、斑块密度和总边缘对比度构建景观稳定性评价模型,在分析2008-2017年景观格局变化状况的基础上评价景观稳定性时空特征。并运用探索性空间数据分析方法揭示贵阳市景观稳定性时空演变规律和冷热点特征。结果表明:(1)2008-2017年贵阳市景观格局发生剧烈变化,耕地面积大幅减少,林地和建设用地面积持续增加,景观破碎化程度加剧,但破碎化趋势有所减缓。(2)10年间,贵阳市景观稳定性水平整体较低,以不稳定和较不稳定为主,表现出"先降低、后提高,总体略有降低"的趋势。(3)贵阳市景观稳定性的空间分布与演变具有明显空间聚集效应,全局Moran''s I指数介于0.2008-0.4005之间,但聚集趋势呈"总体减弱,小幅提高"的特征;此外,景观稳定性热点区主要集中在城镇建设用地或林地斑块相对集中连片、完整的区域。研究结果可为喀斯特山地城市景观空间格局优化、生态安全网络格局构建和生态文明城市建设提供重要的科学依据。     

Swarm Site Fidelity in the Sex Role-Reversed Dance Fly Empis borealis

In the dance fly species Empis borealis (L.), females (1–40) gather to swarm at landmarks (swarm markers, like trees and bushes), and males carrying an insect prey visit these swarms for mating. We noticed earlier that some swarm sites were used for several years and that they appeared to be frequented by a similar number of swarming females in each year, although the numbers of females varied greatly among swarm sites and certain sites attracted more swarming individuals than others. To explore swarm site fidelity in this mating system, in 1993 we monitored the same swarm sites that we studied in 1989, addressing the questions, Would the same swarm sites still attract the same number of females and males after 4 years? and Why do some swarm sites attract more displaying females than others? The number of females swarming at the different markers in 1993 was approximately the same as 4 years earlier. Some of these swarm sites are known to have been used for 18 years. The swarm sites with the largest number of flies had a high sun exposure during the day and were found at coniferous swarm marker trees and in a mixed forest habitat. A swarm site with few females attending and with a low amount of insolation during the day can be predicted to be abandoned as a swarming site soon. Empis borealis swarm sites thus persist over many years and are attended by a similar number of individuals each year. To our knowledge, such site fidelity has not been demonstrated for any swarming insect species earlier.     

Group living enhances individual resources discrimination: the use of public information by cockroaches to assess shelter quality

In group-living organisms, consensual decision of site selection results from the interplay between individual responses to site characteristics and to group-members. Individuals independently gather personal information by exploring their environment. Through social interaction, the presence of others provides public information that could be used by individuals and modulates the individual probability of joining/leaving a site. The way that individual's information processing and the network of interactions influence the dynamics of public information (depending on population size) that in turn affect discrimination in site quality is a central question. Using binary choice between sheltering sites of different quality, we demonstrate that cockroaches in group dramatically outperform the problem-solving ability of single individual. Such use of public information allows animals to discriminate between alternatives whereas isolated individuals are ineffective (i.e. the personal discrimination efficiency is weak). Our theoretical results, obtained from a mathematical model based on behavioral rules derived from experiments, highlight that the collective discrimination emerges from competing amplification processes relying on the modulation of the individual sheltering time without shelters comparison and communication modulation. Finally, we well demonstrated here the adaptive value of such decision algorithm. Without any behavioral change, the system is able to shift to a more effective strategy when alternatives are present: the modification of the spatio-temporal distributions of individuals leading to the collective selection of the best resource. This collective discrimination implying such parsimonious and widespread mechanism must be shared by many group living-species.     

The Interplay of Landscape Features and Social System on the Genetic Structure of a Primate Population: An Agent-Based Simulation Study Using “Tamarins”

Tamarins are small-bodied, forest-dwelling, callitrichines that live in groups containing one to a few adult individuals of each sex. Within these groups, reproduction is usually heavily skewed toward a single dominant male and dominant female, females commonly give birth to cooperatively reared twin offspring, and individuals of both sexes disperse, most often to adjacent groups. Throughout their geographic range, tamarin species are being subject to habitat loss and fragmentation, which may influence their ability to survive and disperse successfully. Here, we use a spatially explicit agent-based population genetics simulation toolkit (GENESYS) to explore the potential effects of social structure and landscape features on the population genetic structure of tamarin primates. We first model the population genetic consequences of tamarin social organization in a homogeneous landscape unconstrained by any barriers to gene flow. We then repeat our analyses using the same social system parameters but in different landscapes that either introduce a barrier to gene flow that restricts dispersal from one half of the model world to the other or divide the world into regions with differing “permeabilities” to dispersal. Our results demonstrate that, in our simulated populations, the social system of tamarins results in the clear and rapid genetic differentiation of social groups within a very short time frame. Over time, the limited dispersal of both males and females leads to a pattern of isolation by distance, as expected from a stepping-stone model of gene flow among groups. Introducing a barrier results in a somewhat more complex pattern: isolation by distance still obtains among social groups within regions on each side of the barrier, but the barrier has a much more significant effect on the structuring of genetic variation, leading to strong genetic differentiation among groups on opposite sides that becomes more pronounced over time. Introducing a region of limited dispersal permeability also results in strong differentiation of groups across that region, even though gene flow throughout the landscape is still possible. Our study demonstrates the utility of the GENESYS toolkit for modeling, in silico, the genetic consequences of many features of the social systems of primates and other group-living animals and for simultaneously exploring the effects of landscape features on spatial genetic structure.     

Population structure and landscape genetics in the endangered subterranean rodent Ctenomys porteousi

In order to devise adequate conservation and management strategies for endangered species, it is important to incorporate a reliable understanding of its spatial population structure, detecting the existence of demographic partitions throughout its geographical range and characterizing the distribution of its genetic diversity. Moreover, in species that occupy fragmented habitats it is essential to know how landscape characteristics may affect the genetic connectivity among populations. In this study we use eight microsatellite markers to analyze population structure and gene flow patterns in the complete geographic range of the endangered rodent Ctenomys porteousi. Also, we use landscape genetics approaches to evaluate the effects of landscape configuration on the genetic connectivity among populations. In spite of geographical proximity of the sampling sites (8–27 km between the nearest sites) and the absence of marked barriers to individual movement, strong population structure and low values of gene flow were observed. Genetic differentiation among sampling sites was consistent with a simple model of isolation by distance, where peripheral areas showed higher population differentiation than those sites located in the central area of the species’ distribution. Landscape genetics analysis suggested that habitat fragmentation at regional level has affected the distribution of genetic variation among populations. The distance of sampling sites to areas of the landscape having higher habitat connectivity was the environmental factor most strongly related to population genetic structure. In general, our results indicate strong genetic structure in C. porteousi, even at a small spatial scale, and suggest that habitat fragmentation could increase the population differentiation.     

Allele fixation in a dynamic metapopulation: Founder effects vs refuge effects

The fixation of mutant alleles has been studied with models assuming various spatial population structures. In these models, the structure of the metapopulation that we call the “landscape” (number, size and connectivity of subpopulations) is often static. However, natural populations are subject to repetitive population size variations, fragmentation and secondary contacts at different spatiotemporal scales due to geological, climatic and ecological processes. In this paper, we examine how such dynamic landscapes can alter mutant fixation probability and time to fixation. We consider three stochastic landscape dynamics: (i) the population is subject to repetitive bottlenecks, (ii) to the repeated alternation of fragmentation and fusion of demes with a constant population carrying capacity, (iii) idem with a variable carrying capacity. We show by deriving a variance, a coalescent and a harmonic mean population effective size, and with simulations that these landscape dynamics generate repetitive founder effects which counteract selection, thereby decreasing the fixation probability of an advantageous mutant but accelerate fixation when it occurs. For models (ii) and (iii), we also highlight an antagonistic “refuge effect” which can strongly delay mutant fixation. The predominance of either founder effects or refuge effects determines the time to fixation and mainly depends on the characteristic time scales of the landscape dynamics.     

大兴安岭林区道路网络对景观格局的影响

在明确大兴安岭呼中林业局道路网络系统组成特征的基础上,利用主成分分析法,将林业局内17个林场作为分析单元,以该林业局1989年景观为例,对有、无道路情况下的景观格局分别进行定量分析,探讨了道路对森林景观格局的影响.结果表明：呼中林业局内包括运材主、支路在内的常年运材路密度为2.3 m·hm^-2,在各个林场内分布均匀,基本沿着河流水系深入到各个采伐区.道路的出现使景观水平上的森林格局发生了显著变化：所有林场中,平均斑块面积减少、数量增多、斑块间距离增大,均表现出不同程度的破碎化,但破碎化程度与道路密度之间没有显著的相关性;道路网络对景观破碎程度的影响比对空间聚合程度的影响更强烈.     

基于无人机航测的漯河市土地利用景观格局尺度效应

景观格局的尺度效应一直是景观生态学研究的核心内容,对于揭示景观空间格局变化规律及其生态过程具有重要意义。以漯河市中心城区为研究对象,基于景观生态学原理,采用无人机航测技术获取空间分辨率为0.09 m的无人机影像,结合GIS空间分析法,量化分析了漯河市土地利用景观格局的尺度效应。结果表明:(1)漯河市中心城区土地利用景观格局具有明显的粒度和幅度效应。(2)粒度越小,景观格局指数随空间粒度的变化趋势越稳定,其表达的生态过程越真实;景观水平上景观格局的粒度效应是由建筑、道路和绿地景观在景观优势度、破碎度和聚集度等方面的变化导致的;35 m和3 m分别为研究粒度效应的临界阈值和最佳粒度。(3)景观优势度、破碎度和蔓延度随空间幅度的增加而降低,景观复杂程度和聚集度随空间幅度的增加而增加;景观格局具有明显的空间梯度分布特征——从市中心往外由不透水地面向透水地面过渡;建筑和道路在城市中心区聚集度较高,而绿地景观在城市内部破碎度较高,进而主导了整体景观格局的梯度变化;景观组分的稳定与城市规模有关。(4)无人机航测技术可以更快速、准确地获取城市尺度上的景观生态信息,揭示景观格局对尺度效应的响应特征,可为景观格局优化和城乡景观规划提供科学依据。     

Factors affecting individual variation in resting site fidelity in the patellid limpet,Cellana toreuma (Reeve)

An investigation was made of individual variation in resting site fidelity in the limpet,Cellana toreuma, with special attention to the adaptiveness of its homing behaviour. Limpets resting in the higher part of the study site showed strong resting site fidelity while those in the middle part showed weaker fidelity and tended to shift their resting sites to higher parts. Limpets resting in the lower part where there were an abundant supply of food and high predation intensity, had the strongest resting site fidelity and always returned to fixed resting sites with mucous sheets. The resting site fidelity varied continuously among individuals. Four causes for shift of resting site were detected: fleeing from starfish,Coscinasterias acutispina, pushing contests for resting site, non-returning excursions following and without following other's trail. The frequency of shift of resting sites due to each of these causes varied among individuals. Estimation of energy budget during about half a month showed that the location of resting site and frequency of shift of the site considerably affected the growth of limpets through energy expenditure by respiration and stationary mucus secretion, and energy intake by foraging. These variations were proposed as being a result not of density dependent dispersal nor adaptation to a single factor such as desiccation, heavy wave impacts or predation, but being due to individual difference in a compromise between two conflicting factors, susceptibility to predation and accessibility to food resources.     

Variation in local carrying capacity and the individual fate of bacterial colonizers in the phyllosphere

Using a phyllosphere model system, we demonstrated that the term ‘carrying capacity'', as it is commonly used in microbial ecology, needs to be understood as the sum of many ‘local carrying capacities'' in order to better explain and predict the course and outcome of bacterial colonization of an environment. Using a green fluorescent protein-based bioreporter system for the quantification of reproductive success (RS) in individual Erwinia herbicola cells, we were able to reconstruct the contribution of individual immigrants to bacterial population sizes on leaves. Our analysis revealed that plant foliage represents to bacteria an environment where individual fate is determined by the local carrying capacity of the site where an immigrant cell lands. With increasing inoculation densities, the RS of most immigrants declined, suggesting that local carrying capacity under the tested conditions was linked to local nutrient availability. Fitting the observed experimental data to an adapted model of phyllosphere colonization indicated that there might exist three types of sites on leaves, which differ in their frequency of occurrence and local carrying capacity. Specifically, our data were consistent with a leaf environment that is characterized by few sites where individual immigrants can produce high numbers of offspring, whereas the remainder of the leaf offered an equal number of sites with low and medium RS. Our findings contribute to a bottom–up understanding of bacterial colonization of leaf surfaces, which includes a quantifiable role of chance in the experience at the individual level and in the outcome at the population level.     

Dispersal and habitat cuing of Eurasian red squirrels in fragmented habitats

Animal dispersal and subsequent settlement is a key process in the life history of many organisms, when individuals use demographic and environmental cues to target post-dispersal habitats where fitness will be highest. To investigate the hypothesis that environmental disturbance (habitat fragmentation) may alter these cues, we compared dispersal patterns of 60 red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in three study sites that differ in habitat composition and fragmentation. We determined dispersal distances, pre- and post-dispersal habitat types and survival using a combination of capture–mark–recapture, radio-tracking and genetic parentage assignment. Most (75%) squirrels emigrated from the natal home range with mean dispersal distance of 1,014 ± 925 m (range 51–4,118 m). There were no sex-related differences in dispersal patterns and no differences in average dispersal distance, and the proportion of dispersers did not differ between sites. In one of the sites, dispersers settled in patches where density was lower than in the natal patch. In the least fragmented site, 90% of animals settled in the natal habitat type (habitat cuing) against 44–54% in the more strongly fragmented sites. Overall, more squirrels settled in the natal habitat type than expected based on habitat availability, but this was mainly due to individuals remaining within the natal wood. In the highly fragmented landscape, habitat cuing among emigrants did not occur more frequently than expected. We concluded that increased habitat fragmentation seemed to reduce reliable cues for habitat choice, but that dispersing squirrels settled in patches with lower densities of same-sex animals than at the natal home range or patch, independent of degree of fragmentation.     

Rethinking the conceptual foundations of habitat fragmentation research

The conceptual foundations of habitat fragmentation research have not kept pace with empirical advances in our understanding of species responses to landscape change, nor with theoretical advances in the wider disciplines of ecology. There is now real debate whether explicit recognition of ‘habitat fragmentation’ as an over‐arching conceptual domain will stimulate or hinder further progress toward understanding and mitigating the effects of landscape change. In this paper, we critically challenge the conceptual foundations of the discipline, and attempt to derive an integrated perspective on the best way to advance mechanistic understanding of fragmentation processes. We depict the inherent assumptions underlying the discipline as a ‘conceptual phase space’ of contrasting false dichotomies in fragmentation ‘problem space’. In our opinion, the key determinant of whether ‘habitat fragmentation’ can remain a cohesive framework lies in the concept of ‘interdependence’: 1) interdependence of landscape effects on species and 2) interdependence of species responses to landscape change. If there is non‐trivial interdependence among the various sub‐components of habitat fragmentation, or non‐trivial interdependence among species responses to landscape change, then there will be real heuristic value in ‘habitat fragmentation’ as a single conceptual domain. At present, the current paradigms entrenched in the fragmentation literature are implicitly founded on strict independence of landscape effects (e.g. the debate about the independent effects of habitat loss versus fragmentation per se) and strict independence of species responses (e.g. the individualistic species response models underpinning landscape continuum models), despite compelling evidence for interdependence in both effects and responses to fragmentation. We discuss how strong ‘interdependence’ of effects and responses challenges us to rethink long‐held views, and re‐cast the conceptual foundations of habitat fragmentation in terms of spatial context‐dependence in the effects of multiple interacting spatial components of fragmentation, and community context‐dependence in the responses of multiple interacting species to landscape change.     

Sources and sinks in population biology

The various habitats inhabited by a given species are never of the same quality. When demographic models take into account this habitat heterogeneity, the source-sink concept naturally emerges: a local demographic surplus arises in good quality habitats (source), and a local demographic deficit occurs in habitats of poor quality (sink). Within a landscape, a permanent migration of propagules or individuals from source to sink habitats may lead to a stabilization of the overall demographic system. This simple situation, explored in the recent literature, has surprising properties. In particular, it requires a change in our view of classical concepts such as ecological niche and carrying capacity, it can explain the existence and persistence of local maladaptation and it can improve conservation practice.     

The distinct effects of habitat fragmentation on population size

We sought to understand how the separation of habitats into spatially isolated fragments influences the abundance of organisms. Using a simple, deterministic model of population growth, we compared analytically exact solutions predicting abundance of consumers in two isolated patches with abundance of consumers in a single large patch where the carrying capacity of the large patch is the sum of the carrying capacities of the isolated ones. For the deterministic model, the effect of fragmentation was to slow the rate of population growth in the fragmented habitat relative to the intact one. We also analyzed a stochastic version of the model to examine the effect of fragmentation on population abundance when resources vary randomly in time. For the stochastic model, the effect of fragmentation was to reduce population abundance. We proved in closed-form, that for a non-equilibrium population exhibiting logistic population growth, fragmentation will reduce population size even when the total carrying capacity is not affected by fragmentation. We provide a theoretical basis for the prediction that habitat fragmentation amplifies the effect of habitat loss on the abundance of mobile organisms.