Geometric effects in fragmented landscapes: a new approach for Landscape Ecology research

• Grant number: 13/03457-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: May 14, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Grantee: Jayme Augusto Prevedello
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/26339-4 - Geometric constraints in fragmented landscapes: a modelling study, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Despite the well-known effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity, there is still much uncertainty regarding the causal mechanisms or processes linking landscape changes to corresponding biotic changes. The hypotheses suggested so far to explain these effects consider ecological processes, such as the dynamic equilibrium between extinction and immigration, the use of biological resources by species and the influence of disturbances. Based on these hypotheses, most studies assume that, in the absence of such ecological processes, the distribution of organisms across habitat areas in the landscape would be uniform. In this study, we suggest that this assumption is invalid due to geometric effects, which tend to reduce the abundance of organisms in small habitat fragments and near fragment boundaries, even in the absence of ecological processes. After recognizing the existence of geometric effects, this project aims to quantify the importance of such effects for the distribution and abundance of organisms in fragmented landscapes. The main hypothesis is that abundance and richness gradients observed in fragmented landscapes are essentially the consequence of geometric effects. To test this hypothesis, we will first perform simulations with hypothetical landscapes and biological communities, using different null models constructed to quantify the distribution of organisms in the absence of ecological processes. Models will be then validated using a large empirical data set on the distribution and abundance of 140 bird and 39 small mammal species, across six landscapes in the Atlantic Forest

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ALMEIDA-GOMES, MAURICIO; PREVEDELLO, JAYME AUGUSTO; CROUZEILLES, RENATO. The use of native vegetation as a proxy for habitat may overestimate habitat availability in fragmented landscapes. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY, v. 31, n. 4, p. 711-719, MAY 2016. (13/03457-1)

DE CARVALHO BRAGA, CARYNE APARECIDA; PREVEDELLO, JAYME AUGUSTO; SILVERIO PIRES, MARIA RITA. Effects of cornfields on small mammal communities: a test in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY, v. 96, n. 5, p. 938-945, SEP 29 2015. (13/03457-1)

ALMEIDA-GOMES, MAURICIO; PREVEDELLO, JAYME AUGUSTO; SCARPA, DANIELA LOPES; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Teaching landscape ecology: the importance of field-oriented, inquiry-based approaches. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY, v. 31, n. 5, p. 929-937, JUN 2016. (13/03457-1)

VIANA, IVAN REUS; PREVEDELLO, JAYME AUGUSTO; ZOCCHE, JAIRO JOSE. Effects of landscape composition on the occurrence of a widespread invasive bird species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 15, n. 1, p. 36-41, JAN-MAR 2017. (13/03457-1)

PREVEDELLO, JAYME A.; GOTELLI, NICHOLAS J.; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. A stochastic model for landscape patterns of biodiversity. ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS, v. 86, n. 4, p. 462-479, NOV 2016. (13/26339-4, 13/03457-1)