Tree loss impacts on ecological connectivity: Developing models for assessment
Authored by Justin MJ Travis, Stephen C F Palmer, Kevin Watts, Roslyn C Henry, Ruth J Mitchell, Nick Atkinson
Date Published: 2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2017.10.010
Sponsors:
United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Trees along linear features are important landscape features, and their
loss threatens ecological connectivity. Until recently, trees outside of
woodlands (TOWs) were largely unmapped however; the development of
innovation mapping techniques provides opportunities to understand the
distribution of such trees and to apply spatially explicit models to
explore the importance of trees for connectivity. In this study, we
demonstrate the utility of models when investigating tree loss and
impacts on connectivity. Specifically, we investigated the consequences
of tree loss due to the removal of roadside trees, a common management
response for diseased or damaged trees, on wider landscape functional
connectivity. We simulated the loss of roadside trees within six focal
areas of the south east of the UK. We used a spatially explicit
individual-based modelling platform, RangeShifter, to model the movement
of 81 hypothetical actively dispersing woodland breeding species across
these agriculturally fragmented landscapes. We investigated the extent
to which removal of trees, from roadsides within the wider landscape,
affected the total number of successful dispersers in any given year and
the number of breeding woodlands that became isolated through time. On
average roadside trees accounted for < 2\% of land cover, but removing
60\% of them (similar to 1.2\% of land cover) nevertheless decreased the
number of successful dispersers by up to 17\%. The impact was greatest
when roadside trees represented a greater proportion of canopy cover.
The study therefore demonstrates that models such as RangeShifter can
provide valuable tools for assessing the consequences of losing trees
outside of woodlands.
Tags
connectivity
modelling
Landscape connectivity
Conservation
habitat
Drought
Corridors
Tree mortality
Agricultural landscape
Tree disease
Rangeshifter
Scattered trees
Species
responses
Forest remnants
Ash dieback