Habitat use of remnant forest habitats by the threatened arboreal marsupial Dromiciops gliroides (Microbiotheria) in a rural landscape of southern Chile

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Smith-Ramirez ◽  
Juan L. Celis-Diez ◽  
Erik von Jenstchyk ◽  
Jaime E. Jimenez ◽  
Juan J. Armesto
Keyword(s):  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Riparian Forests ◽  
Southern Chile ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Remnant Forest ◽  
Forest Habitats

Context. Remnant forest patches in rural landscapes may be important sites for maintaining viable populations of restricted forest species, especially when these remnant habitats maintain some connectivity, for instance through riparian vegetation strips and other forest patches. Aims. We assessed the use of remnant forest habitats in a rural landscape of southern Chile (40°S) by the ‘near threatened’ arboreal marsupial Dromiciops gliroides (Microbiotheria), in relation to habitat type (riparian strips, forest fragments and continuous forests), width of the riparian forests, and the presence and abundance of the hemiparasite Tristerix corymbosus, whose fruits are readily eaten by D. gliroides. Methods. In two summers, 2004 and 2008, we set up grids of 96 live traps for three consecutive nights at each of 16 sites along two riparian forest strips, four additional sites in remnant, non-riparian forest patches, and four more within continuous pre-Andean forest. We counted hemiparasites on trees in the trapping grid area, and estimated their individual volumes. Key results . In total, 48 individuals of D. gliroides were captured at all sites during the 2 years. We documented a significant positive relationship between the width of riparian vegetation and the number of individuals captured (r s = 0.78, P = 0.02, n = 8) for one riparian strip, but not for the second one. Neither habitat type nor the frequency of hemiparasites related statistically to D. gliroides abundance. Key conclusions. We conclude that in the rural landscape of the Chilean Lake District, narrow riparian forest strips, in a highly inter-connected mosaic of remnant forest patches may be as important as large patches and continuous Andean forests to sustain viable populations of this threatened, strictly arboreal, marsupial. Implications. The present study reports, for the first time, the presence in narrow riparian forests immersed in a pasture-dominated agricultural matrix of this forest-specialist marsupial, which was previously known only from continuous pre-Andean forests.

Effects of riparian woody vegetation on EPT functional connectivity in Western Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Peredo Arce ◽  
Martin Palt ◽  
Martin Schletterer ◽  
Jochem Kail
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Landscape Connectivity ◽  
Riparian Forests ◽  
Coniferous Forests ◽  
Western Germany

<p>In the degraded European landscapes riparian corridors had have become key features to maintain connectivity between habitat patches for multitude of organisms. This role of riparian forests has been assessed from the purely structural point of view, to complex models specific for particular species or groups of species, from mammals to plants, from endangered to invasive species.</p><p>Dispersion is a key part of the lifecycle of EPTs (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) as they live most of their lives as aquatic juveniles, being drifted downstream, and disperse back upstream when they become short-lived winged adults. These three families of aquatic macroinvertebrates are widely used as bioindicators because of their sensitivity to water pollution and habitat degradation, but little is known about how the riparian vegetation impacts their ability to disperse and recolonize. For example, riparian vegetation could help EPTs dispersion by protecting them from harsh weather conditions, or by helping them to orientate themselves by changing how the reflexion of the light on the water polarises.</p><p>Nevertheless, connectivity is not the only driver of the EPT community as other parameters can have a direct effect on the community composition. For example, water pollution is an important driver of the freshwater macroinvertebrate community and in locations where pollution is high is not expected to find almost any EPTs individual regardless of the landscape connectivity. Furthermore, other landscape features can hinder the role of riparian forests as corridors for being a barrier to EPT dispersion, like dams or coniferous forests.</p><p>In this study we compare the EPT communities on 120 pairs of sites, each pair located in the same river at 1 to 5 km distance, with different riparian vegetation conditions in Western Germany. The communities are characterised by their overall dispersion capacity using the Species Flying Propensity index (Sarremejane et al. 2017). The riparian vegetation is identified using areal images in the 10 meters and 30 meters buffer from the river.</p><p>We expect that riparian forest fragmentation will directly impact functional connectivity, and therefore, in locations with less fragmented riparian forests the EPT community will be mainly composed by weak dispersers (and <em>vice versa</em>). Nevertheless, covariates that can impact or mask this effect were taken into account: catchment land use, saprobic pollution, naturalness, hidromorphological hydromorphological degradation and also other features as coniferous forests or dams.</p>

scholarly journals Temporal and spatial resource use by female three-toed sloths and their young in an agricultural landscape in Costa Rica

2018 ◽  
pp. 1743-1755
Author(s):  
Oscar Ramirez ◽  
Christopher Vaughan ◽  
Geovanny Herrera ◽  
Raymond Guries
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Riparian Forests ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Secondary Forests ◽  
Use Of Resources

The information on ecological behavior of wild sloths is very scarce. In this study we determined the home ranges and resources used by three adult female three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus) and their four young in an agricultural matrix of cacao (Theobroma cacao), pasture, riparian forests and living fencerows in Costa Rica. Births occurred during November-December and the young became independent at five to seven months of age. Initially, mothers remained fixed in one or a few trees, but expanded their use of resources as young sloths became independent from them. Mothers initially guided the young to preferred food and cover resources, but they gradually left their young in small nucleus areas and colonized new areas for themselves. Home range sizes for young sloths (up to seven months of age) varied between 0.04-0.6 hectares, while home range sizes for mothers varied from 0.04-25.0 hectares. During the maternal care period, 22 tree species were used, with the most common being Cecropia obtusifolia (30.9%), Coussapoa villosa (25.6%), Nectandra salicifolia (12.1%), Pterocarpus officinalis (5.8%) and Samanea saman (5.4%). However, young sloths used only 20 tree species, with the most common being C. villosa (18.4%), S. saman (18.5 %) and N. salicifolia (16.7%). The cacao agroforest was used only by mother sloths and never by their young following separation. However, in the riparian forest, both mother sloths and young used the tree species. A total of 28 tree species were used by the mother sloth; including the food species: C. obtusifolia, C. villosa, N. salicifolia and P. officinalis. However, the young used 18 trees species in this habitat with N. salicifolia and S. saman most commonly used, although they rested and fed during the day in C. obtusifolia, C. villosa and O. sinnuata. The cacao agroforest with adjacent riparian forests and fencerows provides an important habitat type that links the smaller secondary forests and other patches.

scholarly journals Multi-Scale Assessment of Relationships between Fragmentation of Riparian Forests and Biological Conditions in Streams

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yirigui ◽  
Lee ◽  
Nejadhashemi
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Forest Fragmentation ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Biological Indicators ◽  
Riparian Forests ◽  
Riparian Areas ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Biological Condition

Due to anthropogenic activities within watersheds and riparian areas, stream water quality and ecological communities have been significantly affected by degradation of watershed and stream environments. One critical indicator of anthropogenic activities within watersheds and riparian areas is forest fragmentation, which has been directly linked to poor water quality and ecosystem health in streams. However, the true nature of the relationship between forest fragmentation and stream ecosystem health has not been fully elucidated due to its complex underlying mechanism. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of riparian fragmented forest with biological indicators including diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish. In addition, we investigated variations in these relationships over multiple riparian scales. Fragmentation metrics, including the number of forest patches (NP), proportion of riparian forest (PLAND), largest riparian forest patch ratio (LPI), and spatial proximity of riparian forest patches (DIVISION), were used to quantify the degree of fragmentation of riparian forests, and the trophic diatom index (TDI), benthic macroinvertebrates index (BMI), and fish assessment index (FAI) were used to represent the biological condition of diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish in streams. PLAND and LPI showed positive relationships with TDI, BMI, and FAI, whereas NP and DIVISION were negatively associated with biological indicators at multiple scales. Biological conditions in streams were clearly better when riparian forests were less fragmented. The relationships of NP and PLAND with biological indicators were stronger at a larger riparian scale, whereas relationships of LPI and DIVISION with biological indicators were weaker at a large scale. These results suggest that a much larger spatial range of riparian forests should be considered in forest management and restoration to enhance the biological condition of streams.

scholarly journals Forest cover outside protected areas plays an important role in the conservation of the Vulnerable guiña Leopardus guigna

Oryx ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Gálvez ◽  
Felipe Hernández ◽  
Jerry Laker ◽  
Horacio Gilabert ◽  
Robert Petitpas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Southern Chile ◽  
Remnant Forest ◽  
Leopardus Guigna

AbstractHabitat loss and fragmentation are affecting populations of forest dwelling mammalian carnivores worldwide. In southern Chile, a biodiversity hotspot, anthropogenic activities have resulted in high loss of native forest cover. The guiña, or kodkod cat, Leopardus guigna is a small forest-dwelling felid with a narrow range in the temperate forest of southern Chile. The few existing studies of the species have suggested that it is almost exclusively restricted to large tracts of native forest. This paper reports a study in the temperate forest within a fragmented Andean piedmont landscape which demonstrates that smaller forest fragments in the farmland matrix are playing a key role in the persistence of the guiña. We estimated occupancy in both continuous native forest and remnant forest fragments and, with single-species/single-season models, evaluated the extent to which forest cover, habitat type and proximity to protected areas have a modulating effect on occupancy. A continuous survey during 2008–2009, in three seasons of 90–100 days each, accumulated 6,200 camera trap days and returned 47 photographs of guiña. Total detection in fragments was higher than in continuous forests, with detection confirmed in almost 70% of studied fragments. We found that probability of a site being occupied significantly increased with forest cover (adult/secondary forest, scrubland) and probability was low (< 0.2) in sites with < 50% of surrounding forest cover. Our study highlights the importance of remnant forest fragments in the mosaic of extensive agriculture for the spatial dynamics of a guiña population and hence for the future conservation of the species.

Bird assemblages of a fragmented agricultural landscape and the relative importance of vegetation structure and landscape pattern

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Johnson ◽  
Paul Reich ◽  
Ralph Mac Nally
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Pattern ◽  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Landscape Context ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Bird Assemblages ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Mosaic Landscapes ◽  
Agricultural Areas

Many of the world’s agricultural areas have greatly reduced levels of natural vegetation. This results in highly fragmented mosaic landscapes with multiple land-use types. We examined the importance of vegetation and landscape pattern by comparing the bird assemblages of riparian zones, non-riparian forest patches, and pasture in a fragmented agricultural landscape in south-eastern Australia. Bird surveys were conducted every four weeks at 27 sites in the Goldfields region of central Victoria for one year. The landscape context (position and shape of patches) and vegetation attributes were measured for each site. We found that bird assemblages strongly differed among these landscape elements. Mean abundance was significantly greater at forested patches, and there was a three-fold reduction in species richness at pasture sites. Bird assemblage structure was influenced substantially more by vegetation than by the landscape context of sites. Our results indicate that riparian vegetation is a key element for avian diversity, even in massively altered landscapes. The restoration of riparian vegetation and its connectivity with adjacent forest types would greatly benefit bird assemblages in agricultural areas.

scholarly journals Determinants of bird assemblage composition in riparian vegetation on sugarcane farms in the Queensland Wet Tropics

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita F. Keir ◽  
Richard G. Pearson ◽  
Robert A. Congdon
Keyword(s):  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Riparian Zone ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Assemblage Composition ◽  
Bird Assemblages ◽  
Wet Tropics

Remnant habitat patches in agricultural landscapes can contribute substantially to wildlife conservation. Understanding the main habitat variables that influence wildlife is important if these remnants are to be appropriately managed. We investigated relationships between the bird assemblages and characteristics of remnant riparian forest at 27 sites among sugarcane fields in the Queensland Wet Tropics bioregion. Sites within the remnant riparian zone had distinctly different bird assemblages from those of the forest, but provided habitat for many forest and generalist species. Width of the riparian vegetation and distance from source forest were the most important factors in explaining the bird assemblages in these remnant ribbons of vegetation. Gradual changes in assemblage composition occurred with increasing distance from source forest, with species of rainforest and dense vegetation being replaced by species of more open habitats, although increasing distance was confounded by decreasing riparian width. Species richness increased with width of the riparian zone, with high richness at the wide sites due to a mixture of open-habitat species typical of narrower sites and rainforest species typical of sites within intact forest, as a result of the greater similarity in vegetation characteristics between wide sites and the forest proper. The results demonstrate the habitat value for birds of remnant riparian vegetation in an agricultural landscape, supporting edge and open vegetation species with even narrow widths, but requiring substantial width (>90 m) to support specialists of the closed forest, the dominant original vegetation of the area.

Song pitch – habitat relationships in white-throated sparrows: cracks in acoustic windows?

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 2578-2581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Waas
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽  
Acoustic Window ◽  
Wrong Reason ◽  
Foliage Density ◽  
The Right ◽  
Forest Habitats

I compared the hypothesis that birds singing from song posts above 1–2 m should sing in as low a pitch as possible regardless of habitat type, with the traditional "acoustic window" hypothesis which argues that selection favours an inverse relationship between song pitch and foliage density. Songs of white-throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis, were obtained from four habitats which could be arranged in a gradient of foliage density. The pitch of these songs was found to be inversely related to the density of foliage in the habitat occupied, consistent with the acoustic window hypothesis. Significant pitch variation occurred not only between open and forest habitats, but also between mixed and boreal forest habitats. I distinguish between hypotheses that could explain support for the traditional hypothesis despite recent data suggesting that low pitched sound travels best regardless of habitat at song post heights used by white-throated sparrows (5–10 m). I conclude that the acoustic window model may make the right prediction for the wrong reason in white-throated sparrows. I emphasize the need to define and test the assumptions of models before the models themselves are accepted on the basis of support for their predictions.

Ecological drivers of selection for remnant forest habitats by an insectivorous bat in a tropical, human-modified landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 496 ◽  
pp. 119451
Author(s):  
Harish Prakash ◽  
Kasturi Saha ◽  
Soham Sahu ◽  
Rohini Balakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Selection For ◽  
Remnant Forest ◽  
Forest Habitats

scholarly journals The study of rural landscape at the farm scale: changes in traditional signs and structures

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Ludwiczak ◽  
S. Benni ◽  
P. Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Management ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
First Results ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Landscape Transformations

The importance of cultural, historical and identity values of traditional rural landscapes is widely acknowledged in the relevant scientific fields and in legislation. Furthermore, the knowledge of their evolution represents a fundamental basis in order to manage landscape transformations appropriately. The work is part of a broader research aimed at developing and testing a method for the systematic high time and spatial resolution assessment of changes in traditional rural landscape signs. We describe here the main phases of this original quantitative method and a summary of the first results over an Italian case study. A set of parameters allows to provide complementary information about the evolution of the main characters of rural settlements and their components. This proves to be essential to achieve a deep understanding of the traditional physiognomy of places, and to support landscape management and restoration, and the definition of transformation projects.

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