Landscape Ecology最新文献

Context: The vegetation composition of northeastern North American forests has significantly changed since pre-settlement times, with a marked reduction in conifer-dominated stands, taxonomic and functional diversity. These changes have been attributed to fire regime shifts, logging, and climate change.

Methods: In this study, we disentangled the individual effects of these drivers on the forest composition in southwestern Quebec from 1830 to 2000 by conducting retrospective modelling using the LANDIS-II forest landscape model. The model was run based on pre-settlement forest composition and fire history reconstructions, historical timber harvest records, and climate reanalysis data. We compared counterfactual scenarios excluding individual factors to a baseline historical scenario.

Results and conclusions: Our results indicated that timber harvesting had the greatest impact on forest dynamics over the past centuries. In the absence of timber harvesting, pre-settlement species abundances were largely maintained, preserving key functional traits like fire and shade tolerance that contribute to ecosystem resilience. Increased fire activity during the settlement period contributed to the increase of early-successional aspen (Populus tremuloides), but timber harvesting played the dominant role. Fire exclusion had no influence on vegetation composition, suggesting mesophication unfolds over longer timescales than those captured in this study. Climate change, characterized by modest increases in temperature and precipitation, had a minor effect on vegetation shifts, as increased precipitation might have mitigated the adverse effects of rising temperatures. However, future climate change is projected to become a more significant driver of forest composition. These findings underscore the importance of forest restoration and continued research on past forest dynamics to better understand current and future changes.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02043-x.

Context: Habitat loss and degradation caused by human land use change is one of the major drivers of global biodiversity decline. Understanding historical patterns of land use/land cover (LULC) change over multiple time periods is essential for improving our knowledge of the magnitude and scale of habitat loss, but also for predicting future changes and targeting biodiversity conservation and restoration policy and actions.

Objectives: This study assesses habitat loss resulting from LULC change in England and Wales between 1930 and 2020 at four different time points.

Methods: We digitise a selection of published 1960s land use maps based on detailed field surveys, to use alongside existing published historical data (1930s) and more recent land cover datasets derived from satellite imagery (1990, 2020) for England and Wales.

Results: Broadleaved woodland was the only semi-natural habitat to increase between the 1960s and 2020. Rough grassland, heath and wetland experienced the greatest loss between the 1930s and 1960s, predominantly through conversion to grassland. Grassland, which included species rich neutral grassland and agriculturally improved grassland was largely lost to arable land and this was greatest between the 1960s and 1990. This provides further evidence of post-war agricultural intensification as a key driver of habitat loss in England and Wales. Although this rate declined after 1990, it did not halt completely suggesting LULC change is still an important driver of biodiversity loss.

Conclusions: The patterns revealed in this study may be used to predict where future land use changes are likely to occur or conversely where restoration of semi-natural habitats should be targeted. Knowledge of habitat loss over multiple time periods can increase the likelihood of restoration success since the location and timing of habitat destruction are both known.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02189-8.

Context: Land use change and deforestation drive both biodiversity loss and zoonotic disease transmission in tropical countrysides. For mosquito communities that can include disease vectors, forest loss has been linked to reduced biodiversity and increased vector presence. The spatial scales at which land use and tree cover shape mosquito communities present a knowledge gap relevant to both biodiversity and public health.

Objectives: We investigated the responses of mosquito species richness and Aedes albopictus disease vector presence to land use and to tree cover surrounding survey sites at different spatial scales. We also investigated species compositional turnover across land uses and along environmental gradients.

Methods: We paired a field survey of mosquito communities in agricultural, residential, and forested lands in rural southern Costa Rica with remotely sensed tree cover data. We compared mosquito richness and vector presence responses to tree cover measured across scales from 30 to 1000 m, and across land uses. We analyzed mosquito community compositional turnover between land uses and along environmental gradients of tree cover, temperature, elevation, and geographic distance.

Results: Tree cover was both positively correlated with mosquito species richness and negatively correlated with the presence of the common invasive dengue vector Ae. albopictus at small spatial scales of 90-250 m. Land use predicted community composition and Ae. albopictus presence.

Conclusions: The results suggest that local tree cover preservation and expansion can support mosquito species richness and reduce disease vector presence. The identified spatial range at which tree cover shapes mosquito communities can inform the development of land management practices to protect both ecosystem and public health.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02105-0.

Context: Lakes can provide thermal refugia effects by buffering shoreline and inland temperatures, potentially delaying forest transitions. However, this effect has not been quantified for the majority of boreal Canada lakes, which are often excluded in general circulation model predictions of climate, thus potentially underestimating the effects of lake-mediated buffering.

Objectives: Here, we quantify the effects of varying lake morphometry on temperature buffering potential of 11 boreal lakes in central to western Canada. We aim to provide context for lake-mediated climate buffering in Canada's boreal forest.

Methods: We established inland transects at 11 lakes in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the NWT of Canada, with temperature stations at 10 m, 100 m, 1 km, 10 km, and 100 km from shore. We predicted the effects of lake characteristics on mean July temperature anomaly, net ice-off period temperature anomaly, and the proportion of coniferous trees at sites.

Results: July temperatures were coolest on the downwind side of lakes, within 10 km of shore, and at lakes with a high volume (R²c = 0.71), Near-shore sites were cooler than inland sites, particularly at a lower altitude above the lake and larger lake volumes (R²c = 0.66). Ice-off temperature anomalies were best predicted by the interaction between lake area and average lake depth (R²c = 0.55). Lastly, the proportion of coniferous trees at sites was best predicted by mean July temperature (R²c = 0.41).

Conclusions: We identified lakes across boreal Canada large enough to provide seasonal temperature buffering on their shoreline and nearshore forests, with an aim for inclusion in circulation models and to guide management and conservation efforts associated with lake-mediated climate refugia.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02146-5.

Context: Connectivity is a key property of water, enabling the flow of energy, material and individuals within and between sites. Climate and land use changes can profoundly modify connectivity, yet few studies have quantified the patterns in connectivity among lakes at national scales.

Objectives: Our objectives were: i) to examine relationships between a broad range of lake connectivity metrics, ii) to evaluate how lake connectivity varies nationally, regionally and in relation to land cover.

Methods: We calculated hundreds of metrics of freshwater connectivity for all lakes in Great Britain > 1 ha (n = 10,095), quantifying connectedness in their catchments and surrounding landscape. Patterns of metrics, as well as their correlations and inter-connectedness, were examined at multiple scales.

Results: Strong correlations existed within groups of metrics for lake, pond and river connectivity. However, both pond and river metrics varied independently of lake metrics. The most and least urban river basin districts showed noticeable differences in metric correlation. Lake area, pond count and river length in catchments were selected as a core set of connectivity metrics, which explain most of the variation across national and regional scales.

Conclusions: Connectivity metrics can be synthesised to core groups that are easily calculated and effectively account for lake, pond and river connectivity. From a landscape management perspective, hydrological connectivity was highest per unit area in the zone nearest the lake. When interpreting ecological responses, the connectivity metric within each core group can be selected based on suitability and data availability. The minimum set of three metrics is recommended to support comparative, global studies.

Context: As cities seek to provide more habitat for wildlife, there may be unintended consequences of increasing tick-borne disease hazards. In the United States, the Northeast is both highly urban and a hotspot for blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) and tick-borne disease emergence. Though tick-borne disease was once considered a suburban and rural problem, tick-borne hazards in urban landscapes are increasing.

Objectives: We hypothesized that multi-scale ecological processes hierarchically contribute to tick-borne hazards across an urbanization gradient. Urban greenspaces with higher functional connectivity to deer movement would have higher deer occupancy at the 'ecological neighborhood' scale, resulting in increased blacklegged tick populations and pathogen infection at the scale of within greenspaces.

Methods: To evaluate our hypothesis, we used circuit theory methods to model the impact of functional connectivity on deer occupancy, blacklegged tick abundance, and pathogen infected ticks across an urbanization gradient. We sampled nymphal ticks during their peak activity and deployed wildlife cameras to detect deer at 38 greenspaces across New York City and Long Island, NY from 2022 to 2023.

Results: We found that functional connectivity significantly predicted deer occupancy with cascading effects on abundance of blacklegged nymphal ticks and Borrelia burgdorferi infection. We novelly identified a threshold of functional connectivity in urban areas necessary for deer occupancy, tick populations, and tick infection with B. burgdorferi, to emerge in urban environments.

Conclusions: We recommend targeted tick-borne hazard mitigation along this functional connectivity threshold as part of urban greenspace management plans. Additionally, we highlight the importance of examining multi-scale landscape drivers of host, tick, and pathogen interactions.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02101-4.

Context: Urban green infrastructure (GI) multifunctionality is widely valued within the academic literature, and underpins calls from policy makers to enhance and expand GI resources. However, there is a gap in understanding concerning how GI connectivity and size influence GI multifunctionality outcomes.

Objectives: The objectives are to: (1) present the current status of research on urban GI multifunctionality (encompassing ecosystem services and disservices) and the GI traits of connectivity and size; (2) identify relationships between these topics within the literature; (3) provide research insights and present actionable GI planning recommendations based on the findings of the research.

Methods: A systematic review of 139 academic sources (2010-2023) was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines.

Results: Key findings include that multifunctionality themes are more commonly considered within research exploring GI connectivity across urban boundaries than within them, where a wider range of flows of ecosystem functions and associated services (and disservices) are enabled. Also, research predominantly focuses on multiple large GI sites, with limited attention to the multifunctionality of single small GI sites that are commonly found in dense urban areas.

Conclusions: Greater consideration is needed of how the manipulation of GI size and connectivity influence multifunctionality outcomes, whilst also recognising the threat of ecosystem disservices emerging as a result of such actions. Through uncovering gaps in understanding concerning these issues, and highlighting topics benefiting from stronger research foundations, this research can support GI policy, practice and research in realising GI multifunctionality outcomes in urban settings, whilst minimising ecosystem disservices.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02069-1.

Context: Historical land use is thought to have influenced plant community diversity, composition and function through the local persistence of taxa that reflect ecological conditions of the past.

Objectives: We tested for the effects of historical land use on contemporary plant species richness, composition, and ecological preferences in the grassland vegetation of Central Europe.

Methods: We analyzed 6975 vegetation plots sampled between 1946 and 2021 in dry, mesic, and wet grasslands in the borderland between Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Using 1819-1853 military maps, we assigned each plot to a historical land-use category (arable land, forest, grassland, settlement, permanent crop, and water body). We modeled the response of species richness, composition, and plant ecological preferences to the historical land use including contemporary covariates.

Results: Nineteenth-century land use explained little overall variation in species richness and composition, whereas more variation was explained by contemporary environmental conditions. However, we found that ecological preferences of some species were associated with specific historical land uses. Specifically, species more frequently occurring in historically forested grasslands showed lower light and disturbance frequency indicator values, while those associated with former settlements displayed higher disturbance severity indicator values.

Conclusions: We conclude that signatures of specific land-use conversions, including the restoration of grasslands in human-impacted areas, may still be detectable in grasslands even 200 years into the future. However, while local historical land use influences the occurrence of some species based on their ecological preferences, these effects do not significantly influence community species richness and total composition.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-024-02016-6.

Context: Habitat loss is widely recognized as a major threat to biodiversity, but the effects of habitat fragmentation, whether positive or negative, remain controversial. It has been suggested that these effects vary depending on the spatial scale studied (patch vs. landscape) and the biodiversity metric considered (α-, β-, or γ-diversity).

Objectives: We aimed to test the contrasting effects of habitat fragmentation on insect diversity across different scales. Specifically, we tested whether habitat fragmentation negatively affect α-diversity at the patch scale, while having positive effects on β- and γ-diversity at the landscape scale.

Methods: We conducted surveys of Lepidoptera and Orthoptera in 18 dry meadows of varying size and isolation in Switzerland. We assessed the effects of patch size and connectivity on species diversity (α-diversity), analyzed species turnover (β-diversity) between patches, and performed SLOSS analyses to compare cumulative species richness (γ-diversity) between patches.

Results: Patch size and connectivity positively influenced α-diversity for both Lepidoptera and Orthoptera. However, at the landscape scale, multiple small patches supported equal or even higher γ-diversity than a single large patch of equivalent area. β-diversity increased with geographical distance between patches, indicating greater species turnover between more distant patches.

Conclusion: Our results highlight that the effects of habitat fragmentation, whether positive or negative, are scale-dependent. While habitat fragmentation negatively affects α-diversity at the patch scale, it can enhance overall β- and γ-diversity at the landscape scale. These findings suggest that conservation strategies should consider both large and small habitat patches to maximize biodiversity.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02133-w.

Context: Historically, large-scale outbreaks of the European spruce bark beetle were initiated mainly by windthrows. However, after 2018, a severe drought triggered the hitherto largest bark beetle outbreak observed in Europe, signalling a major shift in the disturbance regime.

Objectives: Develop and test an approach that allows simulating this novel disturbance dynamics and evaluate landscape-scale compound impacts of wind- and drought-initiated outbreaks throughout the twenty-first century.

Methods: We incorporated drought-initiated outbreaks into the forest landscape simulation model iLand, using critical values of vapour pressure deficit as the outbreak trigger. Forest management records and remote sensing-based disturbance maps were used to derive model parameters and evaluate simulated dynamics in a Central European forest landscape (41,000 hectares). The period 1961-2021 was used for model evaluation, and the years until 2100 for scenario analysis.

Results: Incorporating drought as outbreak trigger led to a notable decoupling of wind and bark beetle disturbances, which have historically formed a typical disturbance cascade in European forests. While forest growing stock and species composition were resilient to a wind-dominated disturbance regime, this resilience diminished under the compounded impact of wind- and drought-triggered disturbances. The new disturbance regime caused a persistent decline in Norway spruce and resulted in an overall decrease in landscape-level growing stock.

Conclusions: Our findings underscore the urgent need for new approaches to evaluate increasingly complex disturbance dynamics and suggest that the future impacts of bark beetles on forest landscapes may be greater than previously anticipated.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-025-02125-w.