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Separating the effects of habitat amount and fragmentation on invertebrate abundance using a multi-scale framework

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Abstract

Context

Herbicide treatments in viticulture can generate highly contrasting mosaics of vegetated and bare vineyards, of which vegetated fields often provide better conditions for biodiversity. In southern Switzerland, where herbicides are applied at large scales, vegetated vineyards are limited in extent and isolated from one another, potentially limiting the distribution and dispersal ability of organisms.

Objectives

We tested the separate and interactive effects of habitat amount and fragmentation on invertebrate abundance using a multi-scale framework, along with additional environmental factors. We identified which variables at which scales were most important in predicting patterns of invertebrate abundance.

Methods

We used a factorial design to sample across a gradient of habitat amount (area of vegetated vineyards, measured as percentage of landscape PLAND) and fragmentation (number of vegetated patches, measured as patch density PD). Using 10 different spatial scales, we identified the factors and scales that most strongly predicted invertebrate abundance and tested potential interactions between habitat amount and fragmentation.

Results

Habitat amount (PLAND index) was most important in predicting invertebrate numbers at a field scale (50 m radius). In contrast, we found a negative effect of fragmentation (PD) at a broad scale of 450 m radius, but no interactive effect between the two.

Conclusions

The spatial scales at which habitat amount and fragmentation affect invertebrates differ, underpinning the importance of spatially explicit study designs in disentangling the effects between habitat amount and configuration. We showed that the amount of vegetated vineyards has more influence on invertebrate abundance, but that fragmentation also contributed substantially. This suggests that efforts for augmenting the area of vegetated vineyards is more beneficial for invertebrate numbers than attempts to connect them.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all farmers and the VITIVAL (Valais association for viticulture) groups for their collaboration and allowing us to do this study on their vineyards. We are grateful to Valentin Moser for field and lab assistance and Luca Chiaverini for help with GIS analyses. We further thank both reviewers for their valuable comments and inputs which improved the quality of this paper substantially. This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant 31003A_149780 to Alain Jacot.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Laura Bosco, Raphaël Arlettaz & Alain Jacot

  2. Swiss Ornithological Institute, Valais Field Station, 1950, Sion, Switzerland

    Laura Bosco, Raphaël Arlettaz & Alain Jacot

  3. School of Public and Community Health Sciences, University of Montana, Skaggs 302, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    Ho Yi Wan

  4. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2500 S Pine Knoll Dr, Flagstaff, AZ, 86001, USA

    Samuel A. Cushman

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  1. Laura Bosco
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  2. Ho Yi Wan
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  3. Samuel A. Cushman
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  4. Raphaël Arlettaz
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  5. Alain Jacot
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Correspondence to Laura Bosco.

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Bosco, L., Wan, H.Y., Cushman, S.A. et al. Separating the effects of habitat amount and fragmentation on invertebrate abundance using a multi-scale framework. Landscape Ecol 34, 105–117 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0748-3

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