Landscape fragmentation and pollinator movement within agricultural environments: a modelling framework for exploring foraging and movement ecology

Authored by Sean A Rands

Date Published: 2014

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.269

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: C++

Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: https://dfzljdn9uc3pi.cloudfront.net/2014/269/1/SUPP_1_C%2B%2B_CODE.zip

Abstract

Pollinator decline has been linked to landscape change, through both habitat fragmentation and the loss of habitat suitable for the pollinators to live within. One method for exploring why landscape change should affect pollinator populations is to combine individual-level behavioural ecological techniques with larger-scale landscape ecology. A modelling framework is described that uses spatially-explicit individual-based models to explore the effects of individual behavioural rules within a landscape. The technique described gives a simple method for exploring the effects of the removal of wild corridors, and the creation of wild set-aside fields: interventions that are common to many national agricultural policies. The effects of these manipulations on central-place nesting pollinators are varied, and depend upon the behavioural rules that the pollinators are using to move through the environment. The value of this modelling framework is discussed, and future directions for exploration are identified.

Tags

connectivity Conservation patterns habitat farmland biodiversity Communities Land Corridors Fruit-set Bees