Assessing the influence of ecological interaction patterns among habitat types on species distribution: studying the Ibe
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Assessing the influence of ecological interaction patterns among habitat types on species distribution: studying the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus Temminck 1827) in central Spain Pedro Alfaya
. Carlos T. L. de Pablo . Pilar M. de Agar . Germa´n Alonso
Received: 1 November 2019 / Accepted: 8 July 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Context Species distribution models (SDMs) usually describe the landscape through single landcover types as explicative and independent variables. However, species distribution responds to ecological processes that are represented in spatial patterns of landcovers, which are not usually considered in SDMs. Objectives From the hypothesis that Iberian lynx occurrence will depend on landscape functioning and that spatial organisation of landcovers is a reliable indicator of landscape functionality, we built a SDM based on landscape structure, to: (i) assess the relevance that spatial organisation of landcovers has for SDMs; (ii) describe the suitable landscape for the presence/conservation of the Iberian lynx. Methods Spatial organisation of landscape is identified by recognising landscape mosaics, which are sets of patches with a similar pattern of boundaries. We identified landscape mosaics within western area of the province of Madrid. Then, we used field-
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01070-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. P. Alfaya (&) C. T. L. de Pablo P. M. de Agar G. Alonso Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Complutense University of Madrid, Avda. Jose´ Antonio Nova´is 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected]
collected lynx scats to test if species’ preferences are related to landscape mosaics. Results The species shows its preference for two out of eight identified mosaics. It shows preference for mosaics with low human-modified holm oak forests, but it does not show rejection of traditional land-uses such as pasture or non-intensive agriculture. The relevance of watercourses was also shown, since two of four mosaics with characteristic riparian vegetation prove to be relevant in the model. Conclusions As landscape includes spatial interactions (boundaries) among landcovers it is a more holistic descriptor than single landcovers. This contributes to increase SDMs performance and usefulness for designing more accurate conservation actions, compared to those based on single landcover composition. Keywords Boundary Iberian lynx Landscape mosaics Species distribution modelling
Introduction Species distribution models (SDMs) are regarded as a useful tool for management plans and conservation (Franklin 1995; Guisan and Zimmermann 2000; Peterson and Vieglais 2001; Guisan and Thuiller 2005; Richards et al. 2007; Rodrı´guez et al. 2007).
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Landscape Ecol
They take data from biological, geological, topographic and/or climatic variables which describe favourable fe
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