Scale dependence in habitat selection: the case of the endangered brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the Cantabrian Range (NW Spain)     

María C. Mateo Sánchez  Samuel A. Cushman  Santiago Saura 《International journal of geographical information science》2014,28(8):1531-1546

Animals select habitat resources at multiple spatial scales. Thus, explicit attention to scale dependency in species–habitat relationships is critical to understand the habitat suitability patterns as perceived by organisms in complex landscapes. Identification of the scales at which particular environmental variables influence habitat selection may be as important as the selection of variables themselves. In this study, we combined bivariate scaling and Maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling to investigate multiscale habitat selection of endangered brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations in northwest Spain. Bivariate scaling showed that the strength of apparent habitat relationships was highly sensitive to the scale at which predictor variables are evaluated. Maxent models on the optimal scale for each variable suggested that landscape composition together with human disturbances was dominant drivers of bear habitat selection, while habitat configuration and edge effects were substantially less influential. We found that explicitly optimizing the scale of habitat suitability models considerably improved single-scale modeling in terms of model performance and spatial prediction. We found that patterns of brown bear habitat suitability represent the cumulative influence of habitat selection across a broad range of scales, from local resources within habitat patches to the landscape composition at broader spatial scales.  相似文献   

The impact of geomorphology of marsh creeks on fish assemblage in Changjiang River estuary     

金斌松  许旺  郭立  陈家宽  傅萃长 《中国海洋湖沼学报》2014,32(2):469-479

Tidal marshes are an important habitat and nursery area for fish. In the past few decades, rapid economic development in the coastal areas of China has led to the interruption and destruction of an increasing number of tidal marshes. The growing interest in tidal marsh restoration has increased the need to understand the relationship between geomorphological features and fish assemblages in the design of marsh restoration projects. We studied temporal variations in, and the effects of creek geomorphological features on, the estuarine tidal creek fish community. Using modified channel nets, we sampled fish monthly from March 2007 to February 2008 from seven tidal creeks along an intertidal channel system in Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve. Fourteen creek geomorphological variables were measured or derived to characterize intertidal creek geomorphological features. The Gobiidae, with 10 species, was the most species- rich family. The most abundant fish species were Liza affinis, Chelon haematocheilus, and Lateolabrax maculatus. The fish community was dominated by juvenile marine transients, which comprised about 80% of the total catch. The highest abundance offish occurred in June and July, and the highest biomass occurred in December. Canonical redundancy analyses demonstrated that depth, steepness, cross-sectional area, and volume significantly affected the fish species assemblage. L. affinis favored small creeks with high elevations. Synechogobius ommaturus, Acanthogobius luridus, and Carassius auratus preferred deep, steep creeks with a large cross-sectional area and volume. These findings indicate that the geomorphological features of tidal creeks should be considered in the conservation and sustainable management of fish species and in the restoration of salt marshes.  相似文献   

Prospects for satellite imagery of insular features and surrounding marine habitats in the South China Sea     

《Marine Policy》2014

This paper investigates the extent to which remote sensing data can contribute to the management of two parallel crises in the South China Sea (SCS); first the ongoing disputes related to islands and related maritime boundaries and second the degradation of the marine environment and the decrease in fish stocks. It demonstrates that remote sensing surveys are the only means to lawfully collect independent and verifiable geographic data on the disputed features without the need to consult all the claimants and thereby add to regional frictions and tensions. These surveys can contribute to the determination of whether these features are submerged or above water at high tide and what their physical characteristics are. This would inform the application of the Law of the Sea and help determine entitlements to maritime zones and thus access to resources. The other category of uses for remote sensing surveys which is explored is the identification and classification of marine habitats and the building of a biogeographic platform. This paper shows the limits created by unavoidable uncertainties in the interpretation of satellite imagery. However, many benefits outweigh the downsides: the potential for national and regional marine spatial planning, for the prioritization of marine environments in need of management, for the implementation by the States bordering the SCS of the international treaties which they have ratified and for ecological monitoring.  相似文献   

The occurrence and depth penetration of macroalgae along environmental gradients in the northern Baltic Sea     

Henna Rinne  Sonja Salovius-Laurén Johanna Mattila 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2011,94(2):182-191

Eutrophication is known to affect the community structure of macroalgae by e.g. decreasing the depth penetration of species and by shifting dominance from perennial to annual species. However, there is substantial lack of knowledge in the Baltic Sea regarding the distribution of many of the macroalgal species, how natural environmental factors affect their occurrence and how they respond to eutrophication. As macroalgae are used as indicators of the quality of the sea areas in the EU legislation (Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive), this kind of knowledge is essential. The aim of this study was to determine which variables were related to variation in species occurrence and their lower limit of occurrence in the Finnish marine area. The study was carried out on data from five study areas along the Finnish coastline and included about 30 taxa. Our results showed that both the macroalgal communities and the occurrence (presence/absence) of most of the species differed between the study areas and that the differences were mainly related to salinity and exposure, although also eutrophication related factors played a role. Of the perennial species, eutrophied conditions seemed to favour only the occurrence of Sphacelaria arctica and Polysiphonia fucoides. Secchi depth was important in determining the lower limit of occurrence of brown and red algal species. However, Secchi depth was rarely the only factor causing variation in the lower limit of occurrence as also exposure, salinity and slope of the shore affected it. We conclude that in the northern Baltic Sea, the taxonomic composition of the macroalgal communities is not a very useful indicator of eutrophication as perennial species seem to tolerate rather eutrophied conditions, when suitable substrate is available. The lower limit of occurrence of many of the brown and red algal species is a good indicator of eutrophication but due to lack of suitable substrate in more eutrophied areas, especially in the depths where light becomes limiting, it is only applicable in the middle and outer archipelago areas. Furthermore, when planning monitoring programmes or setting thresholds for evaluating the ecological status of the sea, the natural variation in the lower limit of occurrence of macroalgae across sea areas is problematic and should carefully be taken into account.  相似文献   

Influence of habitat structure and nature of substratum on limpet recruitment: Conservation implications for endangered species     

Free Espinosa  Georgina Rivera-IngrahamJose C. García-Gómez 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2011,94(2):164-171

Habitat complexity has been recognised to exert a significant influence on the abundance and diversity of benthic invertebrates. This issue is especially important for the management of endangered species. The recruitment of limpet species was monitored monthly for one year on natural and artificial surfaces. Control plots showed the highest mean number of species and individuals settled per plot, followed by rough then smooth plots. Control plots presented the highest mean diversity values followed by rough and smooth plots. Recruits of the endangered limpet Patella ferruginea were mainly observed during the spring, from April to June. Recruitment seemed to be influenced by both the heterogeneity and nature of the substratum. P. ferruginea repopulation programmes involving the translocation of recruits on experimental plates should be conducted using similar materials to the natural substratum, such as granite or limestone, rather than plastic, avoiding surfaces with low levels of heterogeneity, and taking into account that translocation of adults is not feasible due to the high mortality observed.  相似文献   

Use of riverine through reef habitat systems by dog snapper (Lutjanus jocu) in eastern Brazil     

Rodrigo L. Moura  Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho  Eduardo M. Chaves  Carolina V. Minte-Vera  Kenyon C. Lindeman 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2011

The early life history of Western Atlantic snappers from the Southern hemisphere is largely unknown. Habitat use of different life stages (i.e. size categories) of the dog snapper (Lutjanus jocu) was examined across the largest South Atlantic reef–estuarine complex (Abrolhos Shelf, Brazil, 16–19° S). Visual surveys were conducted in different habitats across the shelf (estuary, inner-shelf reefs and mid-shelf reefs). Lutjanus jocu showed higher densities on inner-shelf habitats, with a clear increase in fish size across the shelf. Individuals <7 cm were associated with both the estuary (mangrove and rocky habitats) and inner-shelf reefs (particularly shallow fore-reefs and tide pools). Individuals ranging 10–30 cm were broadly distributed, but consistently more abundant on inner-shelf reefs. Individuals between 30 and 40 cm were more common on mid-shelf reefs, while individuals >40 cm were recorded only on mid-shelf reefs. Literature data indicate that individuals ranging 70–80 cm are common on deep offshore reefs. This pattern suggests that the dog snapper performs ontogenetic cross-shelf migrations. Protecting portions of the different habitats used by the dog snapper during its post-settlement life cycle is highlighted as an important conservation and management measure.  相似文献   

Ontogenetic habitat use by mangrove/seagrass-associated coral reef fishes shows flexibility in time and space     

Ismael A. Kimirei  Ivan Nagelkerken  Ben Griffioen  Coen Wagner  Yunus D. Mgaya 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2011

Tropical shallow-water habitats such as mangroves and seagrass beds are widely acknowledged as important juvenile habitats for various coral reef fish species, most of which are commercially important to fisheries. Spatio-temporal variability in ontogenetic habitat use by fish among these tropical coastal ecosystems has rarely been investigated, yet there are sufficient reasons to believe that this plays an important role. In the present study, we test the spatio-temporal variability in patterns of ontogenetic habitat use by some mangrove/seagrass-associated coral reef fishes (Lethrinus harak, Lethrinus lentjan, Lutjanus fulviflamma and Siganus sutor). Abundances of these four species were investigated during two years in Tanzanian coastal waters, using underwater visual census in mangrove, seagrass, shallow and deep mudflat, and shallow and deep coral reef habitats. The study covered four distinct seasons of the year and was done at two spatially separated (>40 km) locations. Averaged across locations, seasons and years, juveniles (≤10 cm length) of the four study species had significantly higher relative densities in shallow-water (mangroves and seagrass beds) than in deep-water habitats (deep mudflats or coral reefs), whereas the opposite pattern was found for the adults (>15 cm). These findings suggest a strong and general pattern of ontogenetic habitat shifts from shallow- to deep-water habitats. However, specific habitat-use patterns of juveniles as well as adults differed significantly in time and space. Various species showed subtle to considerable flexibility in juvenile as well as adult habitat use across seasons, years, or at different locations. Furthermore, for some species the data suggest presence of ontogenetic habitat shifts at one location but lack thereof at the other location. In summary, ontogenetic habitat use needs to be considered at various spatial and temporal scales for the interpretation of habitat utilization by fish during different life stages. This is important for conservation and management of these habitats, as essential habitats or seasons may be ignored or over-emphasized with respect to their importance for fish during different parts of their life cycle.  相似文献   

南太平洋长鳍金枪鱼渔场预报模型研究   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

范江涛  陈新军  钱卫国  刘必林 《广东海洋大学学报》2011,(6):61-67

长鳍金枪鱼资源是南太平洋金枪鱼渔业的重要目标种类,也是我国金枪鱼延绳钓的主要捕捞对象之一。根据2008-2009年我国海洋渔业公司在南太平洋海域的生产数据,结合表层、105 m和205 m水层温度,以及海面高度、叶绿素a浓度等海洋环境数据,运用一元非线性回归方法,按季度建立基于各环境因子的长鳍金枪鱼栖息地适应性指数,采用算术平均法获得基于多环境因子的栖息地指数综合模型,并用于中心渔场的预报。通过与实际作业渔场的比较与验证,结果表明:模型预报准确性达到70%以上,具较高渔情预报准确度。  相似文献   

我国半城市化地区乡村聚落的形态演变与重建   总被引：16，自引：2，他引：14  

韩非  蔡建明 《地理研究》2011,30(7):1271-1284

在快速城市化的推动下,我国半城市化地区乡村聚落正面临或经历空前的形态演变和现代转型。如何继承、保护与发展乡村文明,做好转型期半城市化地区乡村聚落的规划设计与重建成为一个亟待解决的重大课题。本文论述了半城市化地区乡村聚落的基本特征、形态演变和发展类型,探讨其发展机理和重建路径,并对北京市门头沟区进行实证研究。结果发现：半...  相似文献   

A remote sensing-based analysis on the impact of Wenchuan Earthquake on the core value of World Nature Heritage Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1  

Hui Yu  Yongtao Zhao  Yuewei Ma  Yulian Sun  Hu Zhang  Shihong Yang  Yong Luo 《山地科学学报》2011,8(3):458-465

In this study,we used remotely sensed data,GIS modeling,and statistical methods to evaluate the damage caused by the Wenchuan Earthquake (May 12,2008) to the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat in the World Nature Heritage Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary (WHSGPS) in China.A landscape ecological analysis found increases of landscape heterogeneity,complexity,and fragmentation in the giant panda habitat after the earthquake.A terrain analysis found that slope and elevation are directly associated with t...  相似文献