Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Landscape Ecology'

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 1999.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 35 p.; also contains graphics. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-34).

Over time, small local disturbances may result in large regional changes in landscape structure and function. For example, lightning strikes may lead to large-scale wildfire or land clearing to urbanization. In either case, landscape patterns change as the type and distribution of landscape elements change in response to disturbances. Additionally, changes in landscape patterns often affect ecological processes. For example, wildfires and urbanization affect succession and productivity, which changes the distribution of habitat features, and which may affect landscape connectivity for species inhabiting the landscape. I used rank-size distributions and their scaling exponents to illustrate landscape character and change in Yellowstone National Park and a portion of the metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona, through patterns associated with the distribution of patch size. I found that natural and anthropogenic disturbances affected landscape organization similarly and thus produced similar distributional patterns of patch size. However, the magnitude of change created by natural and anthropogenic disturbances differed. Fires in Yellowstone National Park produced scaling exponents >1, suggesting that large patches affected the distribution of patch size disproportionately. Comparatively, urbanization in the Tucson metropolitan area produced scaling exponents ≈1, suggesting that large and small patches affect the distribution of patch size proportionately. To link changes in landscape patterns with changes in ecological processes I compared four commonly used landscape metrics with rank-size distributions and their scaling exponents. Rank-size distributions described the scaling properties of the landscape with regard to patch size, whereas other metrics did not. This is meaningful because there is an integral relationship between scaling properties of the landscape and scaling properties of species using the landscape. A species may perceive a landscape as connected when the patch-size characteristics of the landscape scale proportionally with the body-size characteristics of the species. As a result, the species may be more likely to move through and therefore persist in that landscape. I develop a theoretical relationship between natural and anthropogenic disturbances, describe landscape organization, and link landscape and species scaling characteristics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canberra, 2004.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 20, 2005). Pages 185-194 lacking in digital version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-184).

Climate exerts a fundamental control on ecosystem function, species diversity and distribution. Topographic variability may influence surface climate, through processes operating at a landscape- scale. To quantify and model such influences, the topography of a 72 km(^2) area of complex terrain, (including the Moor House National Nature Reserve in northern England) was analysed at 50 m resolution. A suite of topographic variables was created, including distance relative to the Pennine ridge (dist), and elevation difference between each grid cell and the lowest grid cell within a specified neighbourhood {drain). Automatic weather stations (AWS) were deployed in a series of networks to test hypothetical relationships between landscape and climate. Daily maximum air temperature, daily mean soil temperature and daily potential evapotranspiration can be modelled spatially using a daily lapse rate calculated from the difference between daily observations made at two base stations. On days with a south easterly wind direction, daily mean temperature is estimated as a function of lapse rate and dist; the spatial behaviour of temperature is consistent with a föhn mechanism. Daily minimum temperature is modelled using lapse rate and drain on days with a lapse rate of minimum temperature shallower than -2.03 x 10 C m(^-1), incorporating the effects of katabatic air flow. Daily solar radiation surfaces are estimated by a GIS routine that models interactions between slope and solar geometry and accounts for daily variations in cloudiness and daylight duration. The daily climate surfaces were tested using data measured at a range of AWS locations during different times of year. The accuracy of the daily surfaces is not seasonally-dependent. The spatial climate data are particularly well suited to landscape-scale ecology because the methods account for prevailing topoclimatic constraints and because separate climate surfaces are generated for each day, capturing the high frequency variability characteristic of upland regions.

Wildlife diseases often occur under quantifiable and consistent patterns, which can be understood to statistically predict their occurrence and spread across landscapes. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a neurodegenerative disease in the deer family Cervidae caused by a prion, a pathogenic and misfolded variant of a naturally occurring protein. Managing and controlling CWD is imperative for conservation of ecologically and economically important cervid species, but unclear transmission mechanisms within landscapes complicate evidence-based management. Gaps of information in the landscape ecology for CWD are particularly pronounced for areas with recent disease emergence and spread, such as within the CWD cluster in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Thus, I identified current gaps in information and sought to fill neglected areas of research, specifically focusing on landscape determinants for CWD occurrence and spread in the state of Virginia. In chapter 2, I conducted a scoping study that collected and synthesized decades of CWD research and identified trends with respect to statistical and mathematical modeling methods used, connectivity within the CWD research community, and the geographic areas from which studies were performed. In chapter 3, I investigated landscape determinants for CWD in Virginia using remote sensing landscape data and an epidemiological dataset from Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) using diverse algorithms and model evaluation techniques. Finally, in chapter 4, I modeled landscape connectivity between confirmed CWD cases to examine potential paths and barriers to CWD spread across landscapes. My results indicate that landscape ecology was rarely incorporated throughout CWD's 50+ year history. I provide evidence that remotely-sensed landscape conditions can be used to predict the likelihood of CWD occurrence and connectivity in Virginia landscapes, suggesting plausible CWD spread. I suggest areas of future work by explicitly identifying gaps in CWD research and diagnostic methods from which models are based, and encourage further consideration of host's ecology in modeling. By integrating remotely-sensed data into my modeling framework, the workflow should be easily adaptable to new study areas or other wildlife diseases.
Master of Science
Understanding why diseases occur in some locations and not others can be a critical challenge for disease ecologists. One disease that has received significant attention from the media and scientific community is chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is caused by a misfolded protein called a prion. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has identified a stark increase in the number of CWD cases since first discovered in 2009, which threatens white-tailed deer populations and a 500 million dollar industry used for conservation of Virginia wildlife species. Previous research found that CWD does not occur randomly on the landscape, but otherwise little is known about the landscape ecology of CWD. To provide insight on Virginia's CWD outbreak, I assessed methods used to investigate other CWD outbreaks in both space and time. Also, I used landscape data collected from satellites and data from CWD cases in Virginia, and applied statistical tools to identify patterns in the landscape that were linked with CWD cases. My results suggest that landscapes were rarely examined to understand CWD, and instead, researchers focused on understanding how populations will respond to the disease. I also provide evidence that, at least in Virginia, researchers can use satellite information with disease data to predict CWD on the landscape and estimate its spread. This information can be used by wildlife managers to control the disease. For example, disease surveillance can be increased in areas where CWD has been predicted, or herd sizes can be reduced in areas likely to promote disease spread. This information could also be used to tailor wildlife health regulations aimed to minimize the risk of other deer populations acquiring the disease. Ultimately, the landscape plays an important role in CWD, but research on this topic is limited; therefore, additional research is needed to understand and eventually control this disease affecting ecologically and culturally important game species.

Master of Science
Department of Biology
Alice Boyle
Species extinctions over the past two centuries have mainly been caused by habitat destruction. Landscape change typically reduces habitat area, and can fragment contiguous habitat into remnant patches that are more subject to anthropogenic disturbance. Furthermore, changes in the landscape matrix and land-use intensification within remaining natural areas can reduce habitat quality and exacerbate the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation. Accordingly, wildlife conservation requires an understanding of how landscape structure influences habitat selection. However, most studies of habitat selection are conducted at fine spatial scales and fail to account for landscape context. Temperate grasslands are a critically endangered biome, and remaining prairies are threatened by woody encroachment and disruptions to historic fire-grazing regimes. Here, I investigated the effects of habitat area, fragmentation, woody cover, and rangeland management on habitat selection by two species of declining grassland-obligate sparrows: Henslow’s Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) and Grasshopper Sparrows (A. savannarum). I conducted >10,000 bird surveys at sites located throughout eastern Kansas, home to North America’s largest remaining tracts of tallgrass prairie, during the breeding seasons of 2015 and 2016. I assessed the relative importance of different landscape attributes in determining occurrence and within-season site-fidelity of Henslow’s Sparrows using dynamic occupancy models. The species was rare, inhabited <1% of sites, and appeared and disappeared from sites within and between seasons. Henslow’s Sparrows only settled in unburned prairie early in spring, but later in the season, inhabited burned areas and responded to landscape structure at larger scales (50-ha area early in spring vs. 200-ha during mid-season). Sparrows usually settled in unfragmented prairie, strongly favored Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields embedded within rangeland, avoided trees, and disappeared from hayfields after mowing. Having identified fragmentation as an important determinant of Henslow’s Sparrow occurrence, I used N-mixture models to test whether abundance of the more common Grasshopper Sparrow was driven by total habitat area or core habitat area (i.e. grasslands >60 m from woodlands, croplands, or urbanized areas). Among 50-ha landscapes containing the same total grassland area, sparrows favored landscapes with more core habitat, and like Henslow’s Sparrows, avoided trees; in landscapes containing ~50–70% grassland, abundance decreased more than threefold if half the grassland area was near an edge, and the landscape contained trees. Effective conservation requires ensuring that habitat is suitable at spatial scales larger than that of the territory or home range. Protecting prairie remnants from agricultural conversion and woody encroachment, promoting CRP enrollment, and maintaining portions of undisturbed prairie in working rangelands each year are critical to protecting threatened grassland species. Both Henslow’s Sparrows and Grasshopper Sparrows were influenced by habitat fragmentation, underscoring the importance of landscape features in driving habitat selection by migratory birds. As habitat loss threatens animal populations worldwide, conservation efforts focused on protecting and restoring core habitat could help mitigate declines of sensitive species.

This PhD Thesis includes five main parts on diverse topics. The first two parts deal with the trophic ecology of wolves in Italy consequently to a recent increase of wild ungulates abundance. Data on wolf diet across time highlighted how wild ungulates are important food resource for wolves in Italy. Increasing wolf population, increasing numbers of wild ungulates and decreasing livestock consume are mitigating wolf-man conflicts in Italy in the near future. In the third part, non-invasive genetic sampling techniques were used to obtain genotypes and genders of about 400 wolves. Thus, wolf packs were genetically reconstructed using diverse population genetic and parentage software. Combining the results on pack structure and genetic relatedness with sampling locations, home ranges of wolf packs and dispersal patterns were identified. These results, particularly important for the conservation management of wolves in Italy, illustrated detailed information that can be retrieved from genetic identification of individuals. In the fourth part, wolf locations were combined with environmental information obtained as GIS-layers. Modern species distribution models (niche models) were applied to infer potential wolf distribution and predation risk. From the resulting distribution maps, information pastures with the highest risk of depredation were derived. This is particularly relevant as it allows identifying those areas under danger of carnivore attack on livestock. Finally, in the fifth part, habitat suitability models were combined with landscape genetic analysis. On one side landscape genetic analyses on the Italian wolves provided new information on the dynamics and connectivity of the population and, on the other side, a profound analysis of the effects that habitat suitability methods had on the parameterization of landscape genetic analyses was carried out to contributed significantly to landscape genetic theory.

This PhD Thesis includes five main parts on diverse topics. The first two parts deal with the trophic ecology of wolves in Italy consequently to a recent increase of wild ungulates abundance. Data on wolf diet across time highlighted how wild ungulates are important food resource for wolves in Italy. Increasing wolf population, increasing numbers of wild ungulates and decreasing livestock consume are mitigating wolf-man conflicts in Italy in the near future. In the third part, non-invasive genetic sampling techniques were used to obtain genotypes and genders of about 400 wolves. Thus, wolf packs were genetically reconstructed using diverse population genetic and parentage software. Combining the results on pack structure and genetic relatedness with sampling locations, home ranges of wolf packs and dispersal patterns were identified. These results, particularly important for the conservation management of wolves in Italy, illustrated detailed information that can be retrieved from genetic identification of individuals. In the fourth part, wolf locations were combined with environmental information obtained as GIS-layers. Modern species distribution models (niche models) were applied to infer potential wolf distribution and predation risk. From the resulting distribution maps, information pastures with the highest risk of depredation were derived. This is particularly relevant as it allows identifying those areas under danger of carnivore attack on livestock. Finally, in the fifth part, habitat suitability models were combined with landscape genetic analysis. On one side landscape genetic analyses on the Italian wolves provided new information on the dynamics and connectivity of the population and, on the other side, a profound analysis of the effects that habitat suitability methods had on the parameterization of landscape genetic analyses was carried out to contributed significantly to landscape genetic theory.

The Lesser Grain Borer is a major pest of stored grain with a global distribution. This project has, for the first time recorded this pest throughout broad spatial areas, tens of kilometres from grain production or storage. Statistical analysis revealed that different factors such as ambient temperature and the availability of food resources affect R. dominica differently between different habitats. This suggests that, contrary to the prevailing view, this pest is not solely dependent on stored wheat and can continue to persist throughout a range of habitats. These findings have important management implications for Australia's wheat industry.

Suisun Marsh is a 470 km² wetland situated between the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Pablo Bay in the San Francisco Estuary. Today, about 80 percent of the marsh plain is privately owned by duck hunting clubs and managed in accordance with conservation agreements. A complex network of sloughs weaves through the Marsh, providing habitat for numerous aquatic species. Together the waterways and marsh plain support a stunning array of species, provide exurban open space, and are increasingly called upon to meet regional conservation objectives. The Marsh is vulnerable to sea level rise impacts, pollution, and other human impacts, so understanding how it functions so it can be successfully managed to meet the lofty objectives set out for it will be critically important in the decades ahead. This study reviews landscape-scale historical ecology of Suisun Marsh and examines recent variation in fish populations from a geographical perspective.

Chapter 1 presents the geomorphic and physical history of the landscape, explaining processes driving wetland development and contributing to unique functional subregions within the Marsh. Chapter 2 examines human- and animal-landscape interactions. Ecologically significant shifts in human and animal populations during the Spanish and Mexican eras, followed by agricultural development in the late 1800s and duck club management starting around 1900, have kept the Marsh landscape continually changing. The rate and magnitude of landscape change has intensified since European contact in 1769 and even more since the Gold Rush of 1849. Chapter 3 explores landscape-scale variation in species distribution and abundance based on a long-term study of Suisun Marsh fishes and invertebrates and presents these data in novel animations. Animated maps are used to explore shifting populations of fishes and invertebrates from 1980 to 2013, demonstrating the value of long-term biogeographical datasets in understanding biological communities at the landscape scale.

Understanding both the deep and recent history of the Marsh provides insights and inspiration, informs management approaches, points to potential restoration and rehabilitation targets, and affects attitudes about appropriate human interactions with this dynamic biological system and landscape.

L'anthropisation des paysages à travers la perte des habitats naturels et leur fragmentation est une des premières menaces sur la biodiversité. Cette thèse Cifre effectuée à l’INRA Dynafor de Toulouse en collaboration avec le Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels de Midi-Pyrénées a pour fondement de mieux comprendre les impacts de la pollution lumineuse et du réseau routier, deux éléments majeurs et inévitables de cette anthropisation, sur les chauves-souris. Les approches, concepts et méthodologies provenant de l'écologie du paysage ont été mobilisés à des fins appliquées à la conservation des chiroptères. La thèse se structure en 4 axes de recherche: (i) à travers une revue exhaustive des études de télémétrie en zone tempérée, nous avons cherché à comprendre comment l'anthropisation des paysages influence la mobilité des chiroptères via la taille des domaines vitaux et les distances de déplacement; (ii) grâce à un échantillonnage simultané des communautés de chiroptères en lisière et à l'intérieur de fragments forestiers dans 172 paysages variant en termes de proportion de forêt et de densité du réseau routier, nous avons étudié comment la configuration forestière, la composition de la matrice paysagère et le réseau routier façonnent la diversité taxonomique, fonctionnelle et phylogénétique des communautés de chiroptères à différentes échelles spatiales; (iii) en développant des modèles de distribution d'espèces et de connectivité (chemins de moindre de coût) à l'échelle d'une grande agglomération nous avons pu évaluer l'effet de différents scénarios d'extinction de l'éclairage public sur la connectivité du paysage en faveur de trois espèces de chiroptères; et (iv) par une expérimentation in situ, nous avons testé l'influence du contexte paysager autour des passages routiers inférieurs sur leur usage par les chiroptères et l’utilité de ces ouvrages à maintenir une connectivité du paysage tout en réduisant le risque de collision avec les véhicules. Alors que les deux premiers axes de la thèse cherchent à mieux appréhender les mécanismes sous-jacents aux effets de l'anthropisation du paysage sur les chiroptères, les deux derniers axes sont appliqués à leur conservation en cherchant à montrer les apports de l'écologie du paysage pour améliorer des mesures déjà existantes
Landscape anthropization through habitat loss and fragmentation is one of the main threats to biodiversity. This PhD (CIFRE funding) was carried out in at INRAE Toulouse (Dynafor lab) in collaboration with the Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels de Midi-Pyrénées (CENMP). It aimed at a better understanding of the impacts of light pollution and road expansion on bats, two major and inevitable elements of anthropization, using a landscape ecology framework applied to bat conservation. This work is structured in 4 sections: (i) by means of an exhaustive review of bat telemetry studies in Europe and North America, I explored how landscape anthropization influenced bat mobility through mean home range sizes and commuting distances; (ii) using simultaneous acoustic sampling of bat communities at both edge and interior forest patches in 172 landscapes varying in terms of forest amount and road density, I analyzed how forest fragmentation and road network shaped the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of bat communities at multiple spatial scales; (iii) by developing models of species distribution and connectivity (least-cost path) at the scale of a large urban area, I assessed the effect of different street lighting extinction scenarios on landscape connectivity for three bat species; and (iv) using a field experiment, I tested the influence of landscape context around road underpasses on their use by bats and the efficiency of these structures in maintaining landscape connectivity while reducing the risk of collision with vehicles. While the first two sections of the PhD seek to better understand the mechanisms underlying the effects of landscape anthropization on bats, the last two axes are applied to their direct conservation by demonstrating how landscape ecology can contribute to improve existing measures

This thesis investigated the factors governing pond-breeding amphibian life stage occurrences at multiple sites within a 467-hectare forest at Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Québec, during 2006 and 2007. Several environmental, landscape characteristics and predator occurrences were tested using different statistical analyses to predict occurrence of these life stages. Life stages responded to different conditions and were not predicted by the same factors. Recruitment can be successful only if conditions are suitable for all life stages. Recruitment was poorly predicted by the detection of breeding adults, while it was better predicted by that of eggs and tadpoles. Different species also responded differently to environmental and biotic conditions, and what was required by amphibia as a taxon was not accurate for predicting population dynamics of individual species. We attempted to study dispersal patterns of three species, but the breeding season of 2007 was brief due to exceptional weather conditions and, thus, no pattern could be detected. These findings illustrate the complexity of pond-breeding amphibian population dynamics and the need for further long-term, multivariate and multi-species studies.
Ce mémoire de maîtrise porte sur les facteurs potentiels pouvant influencer l'occurrence des stades de développement chez les amphibiens se reproduisant dans des étangs dans plusieurs sites situés dans une forêt de 467 hectares à Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Québec, en 2006 et 2007. Plusieurs variables environnementales et liées au paysage ainsi que l'occurrence d'espèces de prédateurs ont fait l'objet d'analyses statistiques visant à vérifier leur capacité à prédire l'occurrence des stades. Ceux-ci ont été influencés différemment par les conditions environnementales et leur occurrence n'a pas pu être prédite par les mêmes facteurs. Le recrutement de nouveaux individus est possible seulement si les conditions sont favorables pour tous les stades. La détection d'adultes reproducteurs n'est pas un moyen adéquat pour prédire le recrutement. En effet, la présence d'œufs ou de têtards permet de prédire davantage la présence de recrutement. Les différentes espèces ne sont pas influencées de la même façon par les facteurs et ce que les amphibiens requièrent en général n'est pas représentatif des besoins de chaque espèce. De plus, nous avons tenté de comprendre, sans succès, la dispersion de trois espèces, car la reproduction fut très brève en 2007 en raison des conditions météorologiques. Ces résultats laissent entrevoir la complexité de la dynamique des populations chez les amphibiens se reproduisant dans des étangs et la nécessité de réaliser des études multifactorielles à long terme sur plusieurs espèces.

The modernisation of agriculture has lead to changes in Norwegian farming landscapes that have consequences for butterfly distribution and abundance. Particularly important is the abandonment of traditionally managed grasslands and the consequent increase in potential barriers of scrub and trees in the landscape. In this thesis I use a landscape ecological perspective to explore the effects of abandonment on butterfly dispersal. I demonstrate that landscape elements influence butterfly movement behaviour: tall structures were significant barriers for a range of species and even low features, such as roads, elicited significant behavioural responses which shaped the movement patterns of butterflies. Behavioural differences between species were related to ecological and physiological characteristics. Movement patterns of Scarce Coppers (Lyceana virgaureae) were recorded by mark-release- recapture (MRR) techniques. Of 1711 recorded displacements, over 90 % were under 150 m. Exchange rates between meadows were dependent upon distance and the structure of intervening vegetation. A simple spatial model, parameterised with data from the behavioural experiments, was validated using MRR observations. This confirmed that the behaviour of individuals responding to single landscape elements has consequences at the level of populations and entire landscapes. The life history and movement behaviour of the endangered Apollo (Parnassius apollo), were examined using MRR. The butterfly is well adapted to a mosaic landscape structure; however, inter-meadow movement declined exponentially with increasing distance between meadows. Abandonment of hay meadows on steep slopes, with consequent forest succession, will adversely affect the Apollo by increasing the distances between open habitat. Genetic analyses support the findings of MMR studies and add a wider spatial and temporal perspective. As a conservation management priority, I recommend population mapping to identify key sites in regional networks of populations. Finally, I consider the links between empirical studies, modelling and the practical application of theory, and discuss the implications of landscape change for the butterflies of Norwegian farmland.

This dissertation develops the conceptual framework of landscape political ecology (LPE) to consider particular forms of socio-ecological transformation resulting from the relatively re- cent but heavily contested practice of ‘swiftlet farming’ in Malaysian cities. Swiftlet farming is a colloquial term given to the semi-domestication of edible-nest swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus) in converted buildings within urban areas in order to harvest their nests. These nests have long been a highly sought-after delicacy in China and overseas Chinese communities, and subsequently fetch over US$2000 on the international market. The primary research question investigated asks how the industry has been perceived and contested on an everyday basis in Malaysian cities. Engaging these controversies provides the opportunity to capture the significant negotiation that is embedded in the mechanisms of landscape production and capital accumulation as they take place through struggles over swiftlet farming in contemporary Malaysian cities. This research also seeks to understand how the swiftlet farming industry has transformed not only the cities in which it has been located, but also the ecology of swiftlets and their breeding patterns. The dissertation is centered on a six-month participatory ethnography which took place primarily in the city of George Town, Penang, but also investigated other related sites in peninsular Malaysia. I maintain that such ‘co-productive’ research has enabled a more situated view of socio-ecological transformations that have transpired through urban swiftlet farming in Malaysia, and the controversies surrounding them. The empirical chapters aim to unpack the controversies and discourses that emerged in response to swiftlet farming in the study areas, primarily its perceived impact on urban health, forms of cultural heritage, and the wider implications of ‘farming’ such animals in urban residential areas. In exploring these topics, LPE provides a cohesive and integrated approach that helps to untangle the interconnected economic, political, ecological and discursive processes that together form increasingly heterogeneous socio-natural landscapes. The implications of this thesis thus speak to the fraught cultural politics underlying processes of urban socio-ecological transformation in contemporary Southeast Asian cities.

Humans have a profound impact on ecosystems, and land-use change constitutes a primary driving force in the loss of biodiversity. Habitat loss and fragmentation are key factors in this process by seriously impeding the habitat availability and movement of species, leading to a significant decrease in population viability. Landscape connectivity management able of crossing administrative and ecological spatial and temporal scales has been identified as one of the most important measures to counteract these negative impacts. The use of graph-theory and network-based landscape-ecological tools has become established as a promising way forward to address these issues. Despite urgent needs to adapt and implement such tools in planning, assessment and decision-making, surprisingly little attention has been paid to developing approaches for their effective practical application. This thesis presents the development of a toolbox with network-based, landscape-ecological methods and graph-theoretic indicators, which can be effectively implemented by practitioners within environmental assessment, physical planning and design, to analyze landscape connectivity. Recent advances in network analysis and landscape ecology are brought together and adapted for practical application, bridging the gap between science and practice. The use of participatory approaches was identified as key to successful development, and several workshops, meetings, interviews, as well as prototype testing of the developed software were conducted throughout the study. Input data and selection of species were based on the experience gained through seven real-world cases, commissioned by different governmental organizations within Stockholm County. The practitioners’ perspectives on effective practical application of the proposed toolbox were then assessed through an interview-study. The respondents anticipated improved communication with other actors in addition to being able to better assess critical ecological structures within the landscape. The toolbox was finally tested in a large-scale network analysis of impacts of the regional development plan (RUFS 2010), leading to important insights on the planning of connectivity in an urbanizing region.

QC 20111125

Master of Science
Biology
David A. Haukos
The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has experienced range-wide population declines and range contraction since European settlement. Due to ongoing declines, lesser prairie-chickens were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014; however, uncertainty regarding the legal status of the species has developed following a judicial decision to vacate the listing in September 2015. Regardless, new research is required for conservation planning, especially for understudied portions and temporal periods of the occupied range. I evaluated nonbreeding lesser prairie-chicken survival using known-fate models, and tested for the influence of environmental, landscape and predator effects on weekly survival. I estimated nonbreeding home-range size using fixed kernel density estimators and Brownian Bridge movement models for VHF and Satellite tagged lesser prairie-chickens, and measured habitat use during the 6-month nonbreeding period (16 September – 14 March). I also determined the influence of lek location on space use intensity within home ranges using resource utilization functions. Female survival was high (0.75, SE = 0.05) and consistent across nonbreeding seasons, but not explainable by selected variables. Mean home range size for birds with GPS transmitters (955 ha, SE = 128.5) was 215% larger than for individuals with VHF transmitters (303 ha, SE = 24.1) and 136% greater during the 2014-2015 nonbreeding season than the 2013-2014 season. Males and females were tied to leks throughout the nonbreeding season, and this relationship was not variable across the months of the nonbreeding season. Proportions of habitat used differed among study sites, but temporal trends were not evident. Lesser prairie-chickens exhibited consistency among ecoregions for home-range, space use, and survival; however, with differing habitat use among regions, management should be on the regional scale. Agriculture and energy development have caused fragmentation of the landscape where lesser prairie-chickens evolved. I used known fate survival models to test if landscape composition or configuration within sites caused survival to differ by site, as well as within home ranges to determine if functional relationships exist between weekly survival and landscape configuration or composition. I used Andersen-Gill models to test whether distance to anthropogenic features affected hazard rates. Differences in survival rates between sites, with survival rates 50% greater in Clark County, Kansas compared to Northwestern, Kansas, corresponded to differences in the amount of grassland habitat on the landscape, but study-site configuration was not measurably different. Increasing the number of patch types within home ranges increased survival, indicating positive effects of heterogeneity. In addition, as distance to fences decreased, lesser prairie-chickens experienced greater risk. Overall, further breakup of grassland landscapes that lesser prairie-chickens occupy should be avoided, to avoid habitat loss and fragmentation thresholds that could further affect survival rates. Additionally, fences should be removed or avoided around active leks.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Soft, serene insect songs add an intrinsic aesthetic value to the landscape. Yet these songs also have an important biological relevance. Acoustic signals across the landscape carry a multitude of localized information allowing organisms to communicate invisibly within their environment. Ensifera are cryptic participants of nocturnal soundscapes, contributing to ambient acoustics through their diverse range of proclamation songs. Although not without inherent risks and constraints, the single most important function of signalling is sexual advertising and pair formation. In order for acoustic communication to be effective, signals must maintain their encoded information so as to lead to positive phonotaxis in the receiver towards the emitter. In any given environment, communication is constrained by various local abiotic and biotic factors, resulting in Ensifera utilizing acoustic niches, shifting species songs spectrally, spatially and temporally for their optimal propagation in the environment. Besides the importance of Ensifera songs from an ethological point of view, the multitude of species-specific signals provide an acoustic tapestry representing species diversity across ecological gradients and over time. Acoustic inventorying and monitoring of the landscape can reflect the environmental status of ecological systems, from natural to disturbed by human influence. In contrast to traditional survey techniques, sound recording and interpretation is a non-invasive method that allows for the detection and classification of highly cryptic, yet insightful indicators of ecosystem change. Here, acoustic monitoring was used across diverse ecological gradients to improve understanding of species diversity patterns, and how they change in response to both natural gradients and in response to the human dominated landscape mosaic. This study was undertaken in three geographic locations from tropical rain forest of Brunei, Borneo, to the landscapemosaic of plantation forestry in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and to the botanically rich, mountain fynbos region of the Cape Floristic Region, also in South Africa. Each region provided a diverse and particular landscape to test the value of acoustic surveys for determining local diversity patterns across natural gradients and to assess the value of the technique for assessing the impact human influence across landscapes. In tropical rainforests, an entire acoustic guild was investigated to determine how acoustic species partition their acoustic communication channels spectrally, temporally and spatially, to avoid acoustic interference. The overall assemblage showed considerable spectral partitioning. Diurnally active species showed low temporal niche overlap, whereas nocturnal species did not utilize temporal partitioning. Lack of nocturnal temporal partitioning suggests other mechanisms of acoustic avoidance are sufficient to avoid acoustic overlap, or that there are insufficient cues to partition nocturnal acoustic environments. Acoustic species also utilized spatial partitioning, with distinct acoustic assemblages at vertical heights and with elevation. Utilization of a range of different strategies allow many species to communicate with conspecifics with little or no interference from other species in a signal rich environment. Acoustic profiling was also undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, across a plantation forestry landscape mosaic with diverse ecological gradients containing both alien and indigenous vegetation, as well as boarding large natural protected areas. Areas covered in alien timber or non-endemic grass were devoid of acoustic signals. Managed areas that were mowed and heavily grazed were not effective in maintaining the natural complement of nocturnal acoustic species. Within natural vegetation patches inside plantations, acoustic species richness increased with plant heterogeneity and patch size. Patches of indigenous vegetation within the plantation matrix effectively reduced the contrast of transformed landscapes with surrounding natural areas, with indigenous forest patches containing a highly characteristic acoustic species assemblage. Within the botanically rich, mountain fynbos region of the Cape Floristic Region, acoustic profiling was conducted across gradients of elevation, season and vegetation. Across these gradients, katydid acoustic signals were identified and characterized for the first time. This resulted in the discovery of two new katydid species and a novel sound producing structure in a carabid beetle, a species previously unknown to produce sound. Acoustic diversity across seasonal and elevational gradients increased with increasing temperatures. Climatic variability along the elevational gradient produced variation in seasonal phenology. Katydids also utilized high frequency acoustic signals, which is probably an adaptation to overcome background noise from wind, so prevalent in this area. Furthermore, despite producing conspicuous signals for mate attraction and pair formation, katydids were found not to be part of bat-eared fox diet, an insectivorous, nocturnal predator that uses its characteristic large ears to detect sounds made by invertebrate prey. This study shows the value of using acoustic emissions from katydids to identify acoustic diversity patterns across ecological gradients and in response to human impacts on the landscape.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sagte, rustige insekliedjies voeg ‘n intrinsieke estetiese waarde aan die landskap. Tog is hierdie liedjies ook van belangrike biologiese waarde. Akoestiese seine oor die landskap dra ‘n magdom plaaslike inligting wat organismes in staat stel om onsigbaar te kommunikeer binne hul omgewing. Langhoringsprinkane is kriptiese deelnemers van die nagtelike klankomgewing en dra by tot die omringende akoestiek deur hul verskeidenheid van proklamasieliedjies. Alhoewel dit nie sonder inherente risiko’s en beperkings is nie, is die belangrikste funksie van seine seksuele advertering en paarvorming. Vir akoestiese kommunikasie om effektief te wees, moet seine hul geënkodeerde inligting handhaaf, sodat dit sal lei tot positiewe fonotaksis in die ontvanger teenoor die emittor. In enige gegewe omgewing, word kommunikasie beperk deur verskeie plaaslike abiotiese en biotiese faktore. Dit lei tot die gebruik van akoestiese nisse deur langhoringsprinkane, wat hulle liedjies spektraal, ruimtelik en temporeel aanpas vir optimale verspreiding in die omgewing. Benewens die belang van die langhoringsprinkaan liedjies uit ʼn etologiese oogpunt, bied die menigte spesie-spesifieke seine ʼn akoestiese tapisserie wat spesiesdiversiteit verteenwoordig oor ekologiese gradiënte en oor tyd. Akoestiese opname en monitering van die landskap kan die omgewingstoestand van ekologiese stelsels weerspieël, van natuurlike tot menslik versteurde stelsels. In teenstelling met tradisionele opnametegnieke, is klankopname en interpretasie ʼn nie-indringende metode wat dit moontlik maak om hoogs kriptiese, nog insiggewende indikators van ekosisteemverandering op te spoor en te klassifiseer. In hierdie studie is akoestiese monitering gebruik oor diverse ekologiese gradiënte om ons begrip te verbeter van spesies diversiteitspatrone, en hoe dit verander in reaksie op beide natuurlike gradiënte en in reaksie op die menslik gedomineerde landskapmosaïek. Hierdie studie is onderneem in drie geografiese liggings: tropiese reënwoud in Brunei, Borneo, die landskapmosaïek van plantasiebosbou in KwaZulu-Natal, Suid-Afrika, en die plantryke, bergfynbos-streek van die Kaap Floristiese Streek, ook in Suid-Afrika. Elke streek het 'n diverse en besondere landskap verskaf om die waarde van akoestiese opnames te toets vir die bepaling van plaaslike diversiteitspatrone in natuurlike gradiënte, asook om die waarde van die tegniek te bepaal vir die beoordeling van die impak van menslike invloed oor landskappe. In tropiese reënwoude, is 'n hele akoestiese gilde ondersoek om te bepaal hoe akoestiese spesies hul akoestiese kommunikasiekanale spektraal, ruimtelik en temporeel verdeel om akoestiese inmenging te vermy. Die algehele groep het aansienlike spektrale verdeling getoon. Dagaktiewe spesies het lae temporele nisoorvleueling getoon, terwyl nagtelike spesie nie temporele verdeling benut het nie. Gebrek aan nagtelike temporele verdeling dui daarop dat ander meganismes van akoestiese vermyding voldoende is om akoestiese oorvleueling te vermy, of dat daar onvoldoende seine is om nagtelike akoestiese omgewings te verdeel. Akoestiese spesies het ook ruimtelike verdeling benut, met verskillende akoestiese spesiesversamelings op vertikale hoogtes en met hoogte bo seevlak. Die gebruik van 'n verskeidenheid van strategieë maak dit moontlik vir spesies om te kommunikeer met min of geen inmenging van ander spesies in 'n seinryke omgewing. Akoestiese profielsamestelling is ook onderneem in KwaZulu-Natal, Suid-Afrika, oor 'n plantasiebosbou landskapmosaïek met diverse ekologiese gradiënte wat beide uitheemse en inheemse plantegroei, sowel as groot, natuurlike, beskermde gebiede ingesluit het. Gebiede wat bestaan het uit uitheemse timmerhoutbome of nie-endemiese gras, was heeltemal sonder akoestiese seine. Bestuursgebiede wat gesny en swaar bewei was, het nie doeltreffend die natuurlike komplement van nagtelike akoestiese spesies gehandhaaf nie. In natuurlike plantegroei fragmente binne plantasies, het akoestiese spesiesrykheid toegeneem met plantverskeidenheid en fragmentgrootte. Fragmente van inheemse plantegroei binne die plantasiematriks het effektief die kontras van getransformeerde landskappe met omliggende natuurlike gebiede verminder, en inheemse woudefragmente het hoogs kenmerkende akoestiese spesiesversamelings gehad. Binne die plantryke bergfynbosstreek van die Kaap Floristiese Streek, was akoestiese profielsamestelling gedoen oor gradiënte van hoogte bo seevlak, seisoen en plantegroei. Oor hierdie gradiënte, is langhoringsprinkaan akoestiese seine geïdentifiseer en gekenmerk vir die eerste keer. Dit het gelei tot die ontdekking van twee nuwe langhoringsprinkaan spesies en 'n nuwe klankvervaardiging struktuur in 'n Carabid kewer, 'n spesie wat nie voorheen bekend was om klank te produseer nie. Akoestiese diversiteit oor gradiënte van seisoen en hoogte bo seevlak het toegeneem met toenemende temperature. Variasie in klimaatstoestande oor die gradiënt van hoogte bo seevlak het variasie in seisoenale fenologie veroorsaak. Langhoringsprinkane het ook hoë frekwensie akoestiese seine benut, wat waarskynlik 'n aanpassing is om agtergrondgeraas van die wind, wat so algemeen is in hierdie gebied, te bowe te kom. Verder, ten spyte van die vervaardiging van opvallende seine vir maataantrekking en paarvorming, het langhoringsprinkane nie deel gevorm van die bakoorjakkals se dieet nie. Hierdie is 'n insekvretende, nagtelike roofdier wat gebruik maak van sy kenmerkende groot ore om klanke op te spoor wat gemaak word deur invertebraatprooi. Hierdie studie toon die waarde van die gebruik van akoestiese seine van langhoringsprinkane om akoestiese diversiteitspatrone te identifiseer oor ekologiese gradiënte en in reaksie op menslike impakte op die landskap.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on November 18, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Hong S. He. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to global biodiversity. A cornerstone of traditional conservation involves setting aside land as formally protected areas (PAs). However, for effective biological conservation in the long term there needs to be connectivity between these PAs. When possible, improved connectivity can be achieved using natural corridors at a landscape scale. Even better is to establish a network of corridors and nodes in the form of ecological networks (ENs). ENs are currently being employed by commercial forestry companies in South Africa. While larger corridors and nodes are considered optimum, factors other than design, such as management and environmental heterogeneity, have also been found to be important for species maintenance. This study aims to explore the role of corridor width in driving the composition of invertebrate assemblages across a transformed landscape in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and to investigate other possible environmental variables significant for species distributions. In Chapter 2, I investigated the contribution of smaller grassland corridors within a timber production matrix to overall biodiversity conservation using two important bioindicator taxa. Ants and dung beetles were sampled in grassland corridors of three size classes, plantation blocks and a nearby PA, iMpendle Nature Reserve. The two taxa showed differential responses to landscape level fragmentation. Dung beetles showed a decrease in species richness and corresponding increase in species turnover with increased fragmentation, while ants were unaffected, although counter intuitively smaller corridors even contained more unique ant species compared to larger corridors. Dung beetle assemblages also showed strong differences between the PA and grassland corridors. While the conservation effectiveness of large corridors undoubtedly exceeds that of smaller corridors, for ants it seems that smaller corridors contribute to their overall conservation within this production landscape. In Chapter 3, I explore the importance of spatial and environmental factors for species distribution across this landscape. Dung beetles were split into functional guilds according to size and nesting behaviour for analyses. Within grassland corridors, tunnelling dung beetle species richness was sensitive to landscape level fragmentation, especially for larger species, while elevation and vegetation type influenced ant species richness. Since rolling dung beetles showed a close association with the PA, the marked difference in dung beetle assemblages between these two land-uses may be due to the presence of pellet producing grazers in the protected area and their replacement by pat producing cattle in the grassland corridors. Other environmental variables that were found to be important for dung beetle species composition were elevation, vegetation type, and soil hardness. For ant species composition, only elevation was found to be important. In conclusion, as large corridors were comparable to the PA in dung beetle and ant species richness, ENs act as extensions of formally PAs, given that they are large enough. Nevertheless, smaller corridors had surprisingly high species richness. Including additional information other than species data improved our knowledge of the underlying factors that drive dung beetle species composition. Even though dung beetle and ant species responded differentially to habitat fragmentation, environmental heterogeneity seemed important for both taxa. Incorporating habitat heterogeneity into the current management scheme may improve the conservation effectiveness within this transformed landscape.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vermindering en fragmentasie van natuurlike habitat is ‘n groot bedreiging vir globale biodiversiteit. ‘n Belangrike tradisionele benadering tot natuurbewaring behels die afbakening van land vir formele beskermde areas (BAs). Ten einde effektiewe biologiese bewaring oor die langtermyn te verseker moet daar verbinding wees tussen hierdie BAs. Indien moontlik kan verbeterde verbinding verkry word deur die gebruik van natuurlike gange op ʼn landskaps-vlak. Nog beter is om ʼn netwerk van gange en nodes in die vorm van ekologies netwerke (ENe) saam te stel. ENe word tans deur kommersiële bosboumaatskappye in Suid Afrika aangewend. Terwyl groter gange en nodes as optimaal beskou word, is ander faktore behalwe ontwerp, soos bestuur en omgewingsheterogeniteit, ook al gevind as belangrik vir die onderhouding van spesies. Hierdie studie is gemik daarop om die rol van gangwydte as dryfkrag vir die samestelling van invertebraatversamelings oor ʼn getransformeerde landskap in KwaZulu-Natal, Suid-Afrika, te ondersoek, asook ander moontlike omgewingsveranderlikes wat belangrik vir spesiesverpreidings kan wees. In Hoofstuk 2 het ek die bydrae van kleiner gange tot totale biodiversiteit-bewaring ondersoek deur twee belangrike bio-indikator taxa te bestudeer. Miere en miskruiers is versamel in grasland-gange van drie grootte-klasse, plantasie blokke en ‘n naby geleë BA, iMpendle Natuurreservaat. Die twee taxa het verskillende reaksies tot landskaps-vlak fragmentasie getoon. Miskruiers het ‘n verlaging in spesiesrykheid en ‘n gesamentlike verhoging in spesiesomset met verhoogde fragmentasie gewys, terwyl miere nie geaffekteer is nie, alhoewel kleiner gange het trouens meer unieke mierspesies bevat as groter gange. Die miskruierversamelings in die BA het ook opmerklik verskil van dié in die grasland-gange. Alhoewel die bewaringsdoeltreffendheid van groot gange beslis dié van kleiner gange oorskry, kom dit voor dat kleiner gange wel bydra tot die totale bewaring van miere binne hierdie produksielandskap. In Hoofstuk 3 het ek die belangrikheid van ruimtelike en omgewingsfaktore vir spesiesverspreiding oor hierdie landskap ondersoek. Miskruiers is ook in funksionele groepe verdeel volgens grootte en nes-gedrag vir aparte analise. Binne grasland-gange was tonnellende miskruierspesies sensitief vir landskaps-vlak fragmentasie, veral groter spesies, terwyl hoogte bo seevlak en vegetasie tipe mier spesiesrykheid beïnvloed het. Aangesien rollende miskruierspesies ‘n nabye assosiasie met die BA gewys het, mag die opmerklike verskil in miskruier versamelings tussen hierdie twee grondgebruike ʼn gevolg wees van die aanwesigheid van korrel-mis produserend beweiders in die BA en hulle vervanging deur nat-mis produserende beeste in die grasland-gange. Omgewingsveranderlikes uitsluitende ganggrootte wat belangrik gevind is vir miskruier spesiessamestelling was hoogte bo seevlak, vegetasie tipe en grond-hardheid. Vir mier spesiessamestelling was slegs hoogte bo seevlak belangrik. Om af te sluit, aangesien groot gange vergelykbaar was met die BA in miskruier en mier spesiesrykheid, tree ENe op as uitbreidings van BAs, mits hulle groot genoeg is. Desnieteenstaande het kleiner gange ‘n verbasende hoë spesiesrykheid gehad, veral onder miere. Die insluiting van addisionele inligting buiten spesiesdata het ons kennis van die onderliggende faktore wat miskruier spesiessamestelling dryf verbeter. Alhoewel miskruier- en mierspesies verskillend gereageer het op habitat fragmentasie, het dit voorgekom asof omgewingsheterogeniteit belangrik was vir die spesiesverspreiding van beide taxa. Die insluiting van habitatheterogeniteit binne die huidige bestuursplan mag die doeltreffendheid van bewaring binne hierdie getransformeerde landskap verbeter.

This thesis describes firstly the construction and use of a GIS to understand the marine landscape ecology of the Cozumel Reefs National Park, one of Mexico's most important MPAs. The thesis develops this GIS by a novel 'blend' of aerial photography and Landsat imagery. A Landsat 7 TM image was used to extend the coverage and improve the georeferencing of the high resolution aerial photography, while ground truthed polygons based on the latter were utilized to perform a supervised classification on the satellite image. A thematic map with J5 significant habitat classes was produced. Local Ecological Knowledge from diving operators was utilized to identify and characterise diving sites within the MPA and the unmanaged area to either side of it. All coral reef sites were shown to be heavily utilized and most of them are considered to be in a good condition. No relationship was found between habitat perceived condition and intensity of use. As further use is forecast and additional management is needed, three sites located on the southwest of the MPA are proposed to be designated as strict no-access areas. The GIS was then used to analyse, classify and evaluate both the MPA and then the effect of management strategies on the MPA, by comparing the p-diversity, area, fragmentation and size distribution of habitat polygons in managed and unmanaged regions. It is clear that the GIS is capable of providing clear and useful ecological measures, and was also used to show that management strategies which limit physical impact to marine habitats are having a positive effect on the integrity of some of the habitats, in particular for seagrass meadows and algae beds. During the study, Hurricane Emily struck Cozumel, so the opportunity was taken to examine differences this made to the· full set of benthic substrates of the area. Damage was variable and not all substrates were affected, suggesting that changes caused by the hurricane were related to the depths location and local characteristics ofthe island. Recommendations are made to improve the management of the MPA based on the results, and future priorities are suggested.

Alluvial springs are an interesting feature of braided river flood plains. The aim of this study was to quantify and characterise the fauna and physicochemistry of these springs. The distribution and occurrence of springs was assessed using a GIS analysis in 20 South Island braided rivers. The greatest number of springs was found in east coast inter-montane valleys, 65% of which were associated with obstructions in the river valley, such as alluvial fans, bluffs or flood retention works. A comparison between springs, hill slope streams and main channels in the upper Waimakariri River revealed physically disparate environments, which were reflected by their invertebrate communities. Springs contained the greatest number of unique taxa, which was attributed to high stability and the presence of phreatic taxa. In spring-sources the presence of aquatic plants were found to be a powerful structuring influence on benthic invertebrate communities. The generalist, asynchronous nature of New Zealand benthic invertebrate fauna, and the high diversity and evenness of predatory taxa are also thought to be influential on the high levels of taxonomic richness at spring-sources. Away from the spring-source taxonomic richness decreased due to the decline in stability and habitat complexity. Spring age, or time since major disturbance, was important in structuring benthic invertebrate communities. Older springs were dominated by non-insect taxa, whereas younger springs, were dominated by insects which are rapid dispersers. A macrophyte manipulation experiment was conducted in four spring-sources. The removal of macrophytes from treatment plots resulted in a decrease in taxa abundance, but an increase in evenness. Mayflies and caddisflies increased, replacing mollusca and diptera. This shift in community composition may have been due to changes in available living space, food resources, flow characteristics and physical structure between the cobble and macrophyte habitats. Springs contributed a major proportion of the benthic invertebrate biodiversity to the upper Waimakariri River and this study confirms that they deserve commensurate consideration in regional river management planning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Mar. 27, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Curriculum of Ecology." Discipline: Ecology; Department/School: Ecology.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Biology
Brett K. Sandercock
Samantha Wisely
Anthropogenic activities and climate change have dramatically altered landscapes worldwide. The ability of species to cope and adapt to ongoing changes is likely a function of their behavior, movements, and sensitivity to fragmentation. Greater Prairie-Chickens (GPC) are a lek mating grouse native to the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC), for which inbreeding depression and anthropogenic avoidance are a concern. The goals of my dissertation were to: 1) identify genetic correlates of male performance which may influence population viability under current land use practices, 2) identify GPC habitat characteristics and delineate areas of critical GPC habitat necessary for GPC conservation, and 3) identify the relative importance of distance and habitat quality for maintaining genetic connectivity among spatially structured populations. First, I found male reproductive success and survival to be positively associated with genetic diversity. Using multistate modeling in Program Mark, male survival across the observed range of variation in number of alleles (15-22) increased more than fourfold from 0.17 to 0.77. Second, I found 35-40% of Kansas, and 1.5 % (11,000 Km squared) of the GPLCC, were considered high-quality lek habitats. Top performing logistic models predicting lek presence (wi=0.95) included strong effects of grassland cover and avoidance of anthropogenic disturbance. When this model was applied to putative future landscapes based on climate change and current land use trends over a 70-year period, I found a 27-40% reduction in habitat area and a 137 Km southeast shift in habitat distribution. Under equilibrium conditions we expect isolation by distance (IBD) to explain the distribution of genetic diversity. However, if the landscape restricts dispersal, then we might observe isolation by resistance (IBR). I used model selection procedures to choose among competing IBR or IBD models to explain the distribution of genetic diversity among GPC populations across Kansas and the GPLCC. IBD was never supported (R-square<0.02, P>0.09). The best models for Kansas (R2=0.69, P<0.02) and for the GPLCC (R-square=0.46, P<0.02) indicated that human-mediated landscape changes have influenced landscape permeability for dispersal. The integration of behavioral, landscape, and genetic data provided new insights on prairie-chicken ecology, and is a powerful approach for developing conservation strategies for sensitive species.

Despite intense persecution over the last century, the jaguar (Panthera onca) has sustained a wide geographic distribution, perhaps due to its elusive nature and rather flexible ecology. This study investigated jaguar ecology under anthropogenic pressures in Belize, Central America. A suite of methods including camera-trap surveys, diet analysis, discussions with local stakeholders, and population simulations were used to study a population of jaguars spanning the boundary of a protected forest. Camera-trap data combined with capture-recapture population models are increasingly used to estimate the density of mammals such as jaguars with individually identifiable coat patterns. A review of current methods highlighted problems associated with estimating the sizes of lowdensity populations. Simulations to assess the robustness of the method found that camera failure can negatively or positively bias the abundance estimate, depending on the particular nature of capture histories. The most commonly used model estimator in the literature was nevertheless robust to failures of up to 10% of trap-occasions. Pooling trap-occasions reduced the effect of camera failure. Sub-sampling data from large-scale surveys indicated a threshold survey area of ~170 km2, below which estimates of density were inflated and unreliable. For surveys exceeding this threshold size, jaguar density varied across the landscape from the protected forest to the human-influenced lands such that <30% contiguous forest precipitated reduction. Reduced densities with distance from contiguous forest and proximity to human habitation may result principally from direct conflicts with people. The influence of anthropogenic factors on the coexistence of jaguars and pumas (Puma concolor) was investigated by comparing their habitat use and feeding ecology. Diet was analysed from the largest sample to date of scats from one area identified to species. Jaguars and pumas made similar use of the secondary rainforest, despite differences in diet. Although both cats relied heavily on one species of small prey (5-10 kg), for jaguars this was the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) while for pumas it was the paca (Agouti paca). Both cats took some larger prey, mainly white-lipped peccaries (Dictolyes pecari) by jaguars and red brocket deer (Mazama americana) by pumas. Energetics models indicated that reproduction may be limited for either species if large prey are unavailable for females with dependents. Outside the forest block, jaguars rarely ate large wild prey species; instead, a diet of smaller wild prey was supplemented with large domestic stock. Pumas were scarce outside the protected forest, possibly reflecting a reluctance to utilise domestic species near human developments and competition with humans for their preferred prey of paca and deer, which are also prized regionally as game species. Human-induced mortality of jaguars outside the protected forest was mainly associated with livestock predation. Both sexes were equally active on pastures and were persecuted at a similar rate. Many of those killed were young individuals in good body condition, suggesting high turnover rates augmented by immigration. Population simulations indicated that the observed levels of human-induced mortality could be maintained only with immigration from the protected forest. Without natal dispersers (2-4 year olds) immigrating in, the hunted population had zero probability of persisting beyond 20 years. Simulations indicated that the jaguar populations inhabiting the two main protected forest blocks in Belize could persist in isolation and maintain low levels of emigration to the unprotected population. However the probability of all three populations persisting for 100 years fell to ~50% if the migration of natal dispersers from the protected to unprotected population exceeded ~12% per year.

Farmland birds in Europe have declined as agriculture has intensified, with granivorous specialists disproportionately affected. Despite grassland based farming being widespread, farmland bird research to date has focussed on mixed and arable farms. Yellowhammers are a red-listed species in the UK. This study investigated year round habitat requirements, diet, and movements of yellowhammers at four grassland dominated farms in Ayrshire, Scotland. Data were obtained via field surveys and trials, radio-tracking and faecal analysis. Fine scale breeding season foraging habitat requirements were studied by comparing invertebrate and vegetation communities at foraging sites with paired controls across all four farms. A small scale winter supplementary feeding trial was conducted on one farm. Breeding yellowhammers were distributed throughout the study sites; average density was low at 0.11 pairs per hectare (range 0.06 to 0.15), half the densities reported in arable and mixed regions. Yellowhammers preferentially foraged within 10m of field margins. Grassland summer foraging sites contained significantly higher invertebrate diversity and more large invertebrates than control sites. Faecal analysis revealed that adults ate significantly more cereal than nestlings, with both including more invertebrate material than observed in previous studies. Diptera, Coleoptera and Araneae were key orders, with Lepidoptera larvae additionally important for nestlings. A low proportion of cereal was found in nestling diet, suggesting that the invertebrate dominated diet provided was of high quality. In contrast to summer diet, and despite grassland being the dominant habitat, cereal dominated winter diet; grass seeds and invertebrates accounted for <1% of diet in winter. Winter yellowhammer density at each farm was positively correlated with stubble availability. Radio-tracking found yellowhammers significantly selected stubble in early winter and game managed habitat in late winter. Supplementary feeding attracted an estimated 247 to 267 yellowhammers at a site where the previous year’s winter surveys recorded only 5 birds despite holding a good breeding population. Survival rates of 1st years at the supplementary fed site appeared higher than elsewhere in the landscape, and a small increase in breeding density was observed post feeding. As winter progressed, the use of the grain provided increased, suggesting that the late winter period was the most crucial time for the birds regarding food supply. Providing supplementary food represents a cheap and easy solution that could be utilised by agri-environment schemes to tackle late winter farmland bird food shortages. Alternatively, increasing winter stubble in grassland dominated regions should provide additional biodiversity benefits associated with increased landscape heterogeneity as well as increased winter food availability. This study highlights differences in breeding density, habitat selection, movements and diet of yellowhammers on grassland farms compared to arable and mixed farm populations. Restricted winter stubble habitat limits winter food availability, and hence the likely overall size of the population able to subsist in this habitat.

'Conservation is about people, not just animals' argued Prince William in a letter to The Financial Times , written to gather support for ending ivory poaching and trading. This truism is often repeated by conservationists; we are frequently reminded that what we do - as humans - influences nature 'out there'. Nevertheless, conservation science often hesitates to interrogate what we do as organised human societies. Time and again, that leads to somewhat simplifying analyses of humanity's enormous power in shaping the whole Earth System -currently argued to surpass the power of geological forces. A case in point could be the isolation of corruption in Africa as the main driver for ivory market explosion in the last decade. Without considering the political-economy not just of ivory, but of the global-to-local societal organisation that allows for thousands of elephants and rhinos to be killed - for something of so low use-value such as ivory - little understanding can be shed on this alarming trend. I argue, and hope I have shown in this thesis, that we should aim towards enriching what conservation understands as its field of vision and allow the latter to encompass not just human and nonhuman nature and societies, as Prince William rightfully argues, but also the political and societal. I would be satisfied if by going through this thesis the reader would be convinced of just this argument. I am not claiming to be the first to identify this contradiction within conservation, but contra a sizeable number of scientists who work on similar subjects, I am normatively for conservation. A wealth of research has been published on conservation-society relationships that interrogates wider political, societal and economic constrains and opportunities as they relate to conservation. Usually though, research on what could be called critical conservation studies is (a) published in journals that conservationists do not read, and (b) is conducted by non-conservationists, often critical of conservation as a science and praxis per se. Thus all this wealth has little import to wider discussions about the future of conservation science and practice, and is even considered by conservationists as hostile to their agenda. I hope it is obvious from the above that I place this piece of research within the wide field of conservation science - despite drawing from a variety of disciplines. In essence, this piece of work looks at the relation between political-economic transformations and the way societies think about, manage and regulate nature. Geographically, my focus is on England, but with a sideways glance to developments at the EU level. Historically, the scope is circumscribed by two years: 1981, the year of the Toxteth riots in Liverpool, and 2015, the year I submitted. Naturally, in this country-wide, 24 year study I have not even attempted to include 'everything'. I focused on what after examination of empirical data I considered to be key moments and places in the evolution of English conservation. I begin with a section that introduces the reader into the area of study , followed and a brief literature-based summary of conservation in England from the beginning of the 20th century. The next three chapters should be read as a small trilogy that discusses the general trends in conservation policy and governance in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis (Chapter 3), followed by two smaller chapters (vignettes) that study post-financial crisis landscape scale conservation from: (a) a policy and governance perspective (Chapter 4); a use of science and scientific metaphors perspective (Chapter 5). The following two chapters try to reconstruct the where and when (geography and history are important) specific conservation policies and practices emerge, always in relation to economic and political changes. Chapter 6 is a genealogy of green infrastructure, from its emergence in the post-riot Liverpool landscape of 1981, to its current amalgamation with ecosystem services and monetary-valuation-of-nature milieu. Chapter 7 looks at biodiversity offsetting and argues that changing economic and transport geographies are crucial in understanding why biodiversity offsetting emerged as a solution to wildlife-development conflict in this instance and in the South East of England in particular. I conclude with a proposal for a new conservation that places utopia at the centre of its methodology (Chapter 8).

Anthropogenic habitat modification is a significant threat to the conservation or global biodiversity. The fragmentation and alteration of woodland habitat has resulted in the substantial decline of many woodland bird species in the agricultural regions of southern Australia. The Rufous Treecreeper Climacteris rufaa, a once common woodland resident, has declined in abundance in the wheatbelt of Western Australia and appears to be sensitive to habitat fragmentation. The reasons for this are unclear because our knowledge of the species and the threats posed by fragmentation arc limited. In this study, I compared the social organisation, habitat selection, reproductive success, dispersal and population dynamics of two Rufous Treecreeper populations living in the Western Australian wheatbelt. The first population occupied a large (8,500 ha), relatively undisturbed and unfragmented landscape. The second occurred in an equivalent sized area that had been substantially modified by agriculture. I hypothesised that habitat fragmentation and alteration would adversely affect the viability of the population living in the agricultural landscape. In the unfragmented landscape, treecreepers lived in cooperatively breeding, territorial groups. A group usually comprised a primary (assumed to be breeding) male and female, and philopatric offspring (helpers) from previous breeding seasons. Helpers assisted in the feeding and caring of nestlings and there was a positive relationship between group size and reproductive output. Breeding groups often fanned interactive neighbourhoods whereby resident individuals from one territory would feed nestlings in adjacent territories. A total of 77.7% of 148 nesting attempts produced at least one fledgling. Annual productivity per breeding group (n = 90 group years) was 2.1 ± 0.18 fledglings. Fledgling and juvenile survival rates (0.76 ± 0.04 and 0.46 ± 0.03 respectively) were comparatively high, as was the annual survival rate of primary males (0.77 ± 0.06) and females (0.75 ± 0.05). A multi-scaled analysis of habitat use in the unfragmented landscape identified preferential habitat selection by the species at three spatial scales. At the landscape scale, treecreepers used Wandoo Eucalyptus wandoo woodland at a significantly higher rate than predicted by the availability of this woodland type. Territory selection was positively correlated with the density of hollow bearing logs and nest sites, and tree age. These structural characteristics were also positively correlated with reproductive success und survival in treecreepers, indicating that habitat structure may be a useful measure of territory quality. Nest sites (hollows) were preferentially used if they had a spout angle of ≥ 50° and an entrance size or 5-10 cm, but nest-site selection was not related to nest success. The ecological traits of the treecreeper population living in the agricultural landscape differed from the population in the unfragmented area in a number of ways. Habitat fragmentation in the agricultural landscape disrupted territory contiguity with adverse consequences for social interaction. Nest success and annual productivity were significantly lower in the agricultural landscape, although they varied between different categories of habitat remnants. Reproductive success was lowest in grazed remnants supporting comparatively high population densities. Landscape differences in success did not appear to be a result of a disparity in nest predation levels, but may be related to variation in food availability and habitat quality. The spatial structure and dynamics of the subdivided population in the agricultural landscape were consistent with certain aspects of metapopulation theory. Treecreepers lived in spatially discrete local populations that were unlikely to persist without immigration owing to low reproductive and survival rates. However, movement between habitat remnants appeared to be sufficient to rescue these local populations from extinction. Although declining in numbers during the study, the subdivided population in the agricultural landscape appeared to be fluctuating around equilibrium owing to immigration from outside the study area. The consequences of habitat fragmentation for the Rufous Treecreeper are complex and interactive. A reduction in habitat area and an increase in remnant isolation disrupts the social organisation of the species and results in small localised populations that are susceptible to extinction. Modification of the remaining vegetation may reduce habitat quality leading to poor reproductive success. In addition to increasing habitat area and maintaining landscape connectivity, future management of fragmented landscapes must focus on improving the quality of remnant vegetation by removing degrading process and ensuring the recruitment of endemic plant species.

Wild bees, which exhibit multiple functional traits enabling pollination of apples (Malus domestica Borkh), potentially can compensate for recent declines in domesticated honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) that are conventionally employed to ensure apple fruit and seed set. Whether compensation is possible will depend on functional diversity in the wild bee community and on the distribution of habitat and resources within the landscape surrounding an orchard that affect wild bee abundance. We studied pollination services and bee functional diversity in 20 apple orchards in southern Quebec, Canada. We evaluated pollinator efficacy by studying: apple visitation rates, approach (front or side-working), body size, foraging type (pollen or nectar foraging), sociality, temporal and climatic activity patterns, and pollen carrying habit. Pollination services were measured as apple fruit set and seed set. A distance-based measure of functional diversity, calibrated with bee traits and weighted by relative abundances in the wild bee community, was used to model pollination services. We correlated the landscape composition and configuration of surrounding natural (forest) and semi-natural (meadow) habitats with bee diversity and pollination services. The incidence of fruit set and seed set in orchards increased with bee functional diversity. Complementarity between managed versus unmanaged bees in traits associated with foraging and resource use drove this relationship. Seed set was also negatively correlated with both the mean distance from surrounding meadows and the total area of surrounding orchards. Bee functional diversity was positively associated with surrounding meadow and forest area. These two land classes complement each other in their seasonal provision of foraging resources for bees. Our models can be used to prescribe management and conservation objectives for meadow and forest habitats that promote bee functional diversity and in turn pollination services. We identify useful wild bee pollinators and discuss their needs in terms of landscape composition and configuration.
Les abeilles sauvages, qui possèdent plusieurs caractéristiques fonctionnelles contribuant à la pollinisation des pommiers (Malus domestica Borkh), ont le potentiel de compenser le déclin d'abeilles mellifères (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) qui sont normalement adoptées pour assurer la grenaison et la nouaison des fruits. Les facteurs qui rendront possible cette dite compensation dépendent de la diversité fonctionnelle de la communauté des abeilles sauvages, ainsi que de la répartition de leur habitat au sein du vaste paysage qui entoure les vergers. Nous avons étudié les services écosystémiques et la diversité fonctionnelle des abeilles dans vingt vergers situés au sud du Québec. Nous avons ensuite évalué l'efficacité des abeilles pollinisatrices en étudiant les paramètres suivants : la vitesse de butinage, la fréquence des contacts avec les stigmates, la taille des abeilles, le type de récolte (pollen ou nectar), la sociabilité, le seuil d'activité en fonction des paramètres climatiques et temporaux, et finalement, le mode de transport du pollen. Les services de pollinisation ont été mesurés en fonction de la nouaison et de la grenaison des pommes. La diversité fonctionnelle a été estimée en tenant compte des caractéristiques fonctionnelles et des valeurs d'abondance relative des abeilles, et cette estimation a été utilisée pour modéliser les services écosystémiques. La composition et la configuration des habitats naturels (boisés) et semi-naturels (en friche) dans les paysages autour des vergers étudiés ont été corrélées avec la diversité et les services de pollinisation fournis localement. L'incidence de la nouaison et la grenaison des pommes ont augmenté avec la diversité fonctionnelle des abeilles. La complémentarité dans l'utilisation des ressources entre les abeilles gérées et non gérées a été responsable de cette relation positive. La diversité fonctionnelle des abeilles a démontré une association positive avec la terre boisée et avec la terre en friche. La phénologie des espèces fleurissantes dans ces deux types de terrain se complète mutuellement dans leur fourniture des ressources pour les abeilles. Nous voulons mettre en place des objectifs de conservation des habitats boisés et en friche afin de favoriser la diversité fonctionnelle des abeilles sauvages et les services de pollinisation. Une identification des espèces d'abeille sauvage les plus utiles à la pollinisation a été entamée, et nous avons discuté de leurs besoins en fonction de la composition et de la configuration du paysage.