Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6293022 | Ecological Indicators | 2016 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
Several biodiversity features can be linked to landscape heterogeneity, that, in turn, can be informative for management and conservation purposes. Usually, the more the landscape is complex the more the biodiversity increases. Biodiversity indicators can be a useful tool to assess biodiversity status, in function of landscape heterogeneity. In this study, we developed a biodiversity indicator, based on Shannon diversity index and built from distribution maps of protected species. With such an approach, we seek to evaluate the feasibility of using a combination of target species as a surrogate for assessing the status of the whole bird community. Our approach was spread over multiple spatial scales, to determine which was the most informative. We selected four species protected by European regulation and generated a presence-absence map from species distribution modelling. We, therefore, used the FRAGSTATS biodiversity metric to calculate Shannon index for the overlapped presence-absence maps, at two spatial scales (500Â m and 1000Â m). Then, the relationships with the whole community was assessed through generalised least square models, at the spatial scale of 4Â ha, 9Â ha and 25Â ha. Results showed that the higher rate of variability of community was explained by the biodiversity indicator at 1000Â m scale. Indeed, the more informative spatial scale for the whole bird community was 9Â ha. In addition, a pattern emerged about the relationships between biodiversity indicator and community richness, that is worth of further research. Our study demonstrates that the usefulness of surrogate species for biodiversity and community assessment can become clear only at a certain spatial scales. Indeed, they can be highly predictive of the whole community, and highly informative for conservation planning. Moreover, their use can optimize biodiversity monitoring and conservation, focusing on a small number of noteworthy species.
Related Topics
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Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Authors
Francesco Valerio, Marco Basile, Rosario Balestrieri, Mario Posillico, Sergio Di Donato, Tiziana Altea, Giorgio Matteucci,