Fine-Scale Habitat Heterogeneity Influences Occupancy in Terrestrial Mammals in a Temperate Region of Australia
Fine-Scale Habitat Heterogeneity Influences Occupancy in Terrestrial Mammals in a Temperate Region of Australia
复制标题
精细栖息地异质性影响澳大利亚温带地区陆生哺乳动物的占有率
作者：
I. Stirnemann;A. Mortelliti;P. Gibbons;D. Lindenmayer
植被异质性是大多数生态系统的固有特征，是生境结构的特征，被认为是物种分布格局的重要驱动力。然而，量化植被覆盖的细尺度异质性可能是耗时的，因此很少测量。在这里，我们确定是否异质性是值得测量的，除了覆盖量，当检查物种分布模式。此外，我们调查了周围的景观异质性对物种占用的影响。我们测试了影响的覆盖和异质性的树木和灌木，以及周围的景观（栖息地和距离的生态交错带的数量）的网站占用的三种哺乳动物（黑袋鼠[Wallabia双色]，长鼻袋狸[Perameles nasuta]，和灌木鼠[Rattus fuscipes]）在澳大利亚温带地区的自然异质景观。我们发现，植被属性的细尺度异质性是这些物种中的两种哺乳动物发生的重要驱动因素。此外，我们发现，虽然所有三个物种的植被异质性作出积极的反应，不同的哺乳动物在他们的反应不同类型的植被异质性测量。例如，黑沙袋鼠对生态交错区的接近做出反应，灌木鼠和长鼻袋狸对小树覆盖的细尺度异质性做出反应，而没有哺乳动物对大尺度异质性做出反应（即，栖息地的数量）。我们的研究结果突出了方法决策的影响，如如何异质性植被测量，在量化物种对栖息地结构的反应。研究结果证实了选择有意义的异质性措施时，建模的因素影响占用感兴趣的物种的重要性。
Vegetation heterogeneity is an inherent feature of most ecosystems, characterises the structure of habitat, and is considered an important driver of species distribution patterns. However, quantifying fine-scale heterogeneity of vegetation cover can be time consuming, and therefore it is seldom measured. Here, we determine if heterogeneity is worthwhile measuring, in addition to the amount of cover, when examining species distribution patterns. Further, we investigated the effect of the surrounding landscape heterogeneity on species occupancy. We tested the effect of cover and heterogeneity of trees and shrubs, and the context of the surrounding landscape (number of habitats and distance to an ecotone) on site occupancy of three mammal species (the black wallaby [Wallabia bicolor], the long-nosed bandicoot [Perameles nasuta], and the bush rat [Rattus fuscipes]) within a naturally heterogeneous landscape in a temperate region of Australia. We found that fine-scale heterogeneity of vegetation attributes is an important driver of mammal occurrence of two of these species. Further, we found that, although all three species responded positively to vegetation heterogeneity, different mammals vary in their response to different types of vegetation heterogeneity measurement. For example, the black wallaby responded to the proximity of an ecotone, and the bush rat and the long-nosed bandicoot responded to fine-scale heterogeneity of small tree cover, whereas none of the mammals responded to broad scale heterogeneity (i.e., the number of habitat types). Our results highlight the influence of methodological decisions, such as how heterogeneity vegetation is measured, in quantifying species responses to habitat structures. The findings confirm the importance of choosing meaningful heterogeneity measures when modelling the factors influencing occupancy of the species of interest.