IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v335y2016icp64-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Habitat degradation and loss as key drivers of regional population extinction

Author

Listed:
  • Heinrichs, Julie A.
  • Bender, Darren J.
  • Schumaker, Nathan H.

Abstract

Habitat quality is a fundamental driver of species distributions and population outcomes but is often difficult to measure and compare alongside measures of habitat amount and fragmentation. Consequently, habitat quality is often omitted from many landscape-level habitat analyses or more indirectly or subjectively represented in resulting habitat management or conservation planning. Yet, the implications of this conceptual and planning omission are poorly understood. We lack general theory that identifies the conditions under which habitat quality is expected to play a vital role in characterizing local and regional population responses. Using a factorial simulation design, we examined the independent contributions of habitat quality, amount, and fragmentation to population persistence to identify the conditions under which habitat quality might be expected to play a more important role than those of habitat amount or fragmentation. We generated a wide range of fractal landscapes, independently varying in habitat amount, fragmentation, and quality in QRule. We simulated interactive animal movement, habitat selection, and persistence for r and K strategist species with short and long dispersal abilities using spatially explicit individual-based models developed in HexSim. Population abundance and extinction risk were recorded through time for each landscape-species combination and used to quantify the relative influence of habitat amount, fragmentation, and landscape quality on population outcomes. We found that habitat degradation influenced extinction risk through a wide range of landscape conditions and species attributes. The most severe extinction responses were observed in scenarios of combined habitat loss and degradation, suggesting that the interactive effects of these variables may greatly affect persistence. Landscape quality modified extinction risks associated with habitat amount-fragmentation thresholds, and we found evidence for quality-based extinction thresholds as habitat was degraded. The strength of landscape-level quality on extinction risk outcomes suggests that habitat degradation should be further investigated as a major driver of population responses to landscape change. A more inclusive paradigm may be required to elucidate the general influences landscape change on population extinction. Habitat degradation, along with habitat loss and fragmentation, should be explicitly considered when assessing the implications of landscape change on population extinction.

Suggested Citation

  • Heinrichs, Julie A. & Bender, Darren J. & Schumaker, Nathan H., 2016. "Habitat degradation and loss as key drivers of regional population extinction," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 335(C), pages 64-73.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:335:y:2016:i:c:p:64-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.05.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438001630179X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.05.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ying, Zhixia & Ge, Gang & Liu, Yongjie, 2018. "The effects of clonal integration on the responses of plant species to habitat loss and habitat fragmentation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 384(C), pages 290-295.
    2. Liu, Haoqi & Li, Weide & Lv, Guanghui, 2019. "How nonrandom habitat loss affects nature reserve planning strategies," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 397(C), pages 39-46.
    3. Haiyan Meng & Yi Hu & Zuoji Dong, 2023. "Landscape Pattern Change and Ecological Effect in a Typical Mountain–Oasis–Desert Region in the Northwest Region of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Liu, Haoqi & Li, Weide & Lv, Guanghui, 2017. "The design of nature reserves in the face of habitat loss," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 358(C), pages 50-58.
    5. Fazlolah Ahmadi Mirghaed & Bubak Souri, 2021. "Relationships between habitat quality and ecological properties across Ziarat Basin in northern Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16192-16207, November.
    6. Stăncioiu, Petru Tudor & Niță, Mihai Daniel & Lazăr, Gabriel Ervin, 2018. "Forestland connectivity in Romania—Implications for policy and management," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 487-499.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:335:y:2016:i:c:p:64-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.