Landscape Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Old-growth forests are critical to safeguard tropical birds in complex landscape mosaics exposed to slash-and-burn agriculture","authors":"Andrea Lucía Martínez-Penados, Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez, José Carlos Morante-Filho, Eduardo José Pinel-Ramos, Jorge Schondube","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01919-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01919-8","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Slash-and-burn agriculture generates landscape mosaics composed of different land uses. Ecological theory postulates that in these mosaics, the structure of species assemblages depends on both local- and landscape-scale factors, but their relative role remains poorly known.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>Understanding the relative importance of local and landscape variables for bird assemblages in landscape mosaics of the Mayan tropical forest, Mexico.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We evaluated the effect of two local variables (land use type and tree basal area) and two landscape variables (old-growth forest cover and human proximity) on bird abundance and diversity, separately assessing forest and non-forest birds. As species extirpation may accelerate when forest loss exceeds certain limits (extinction thresholds), we assessed forest loss effects with linear and nonlinear models.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>We recorded 1867 birds from 118 species in four land-use types (old-growth forest, secondary forest, burned lands, and agricultural lands). Land-use type and surrounding old-growth forest cover better predicted bird abundance and diversity than tree basal area and human proximity. Agricultural lands showed the lowest abundance and diversity of forest species, but the highest abundance and diversity of non-forest species. We found no support for the extinction threshold hypothesis. Yet, independently of the land use, old-growth forest loss decreased the diversity of forest species and increased the abundance and diversity of non-forest species. Human proximity also decreased total bird abundance, especially because of the loss of forest species.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Our findings highlight the key role played by old-growth forests for preserving bird assemblages in landscape mosaics exposed to slash-and-burn agriculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141501731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green or grain? Impact of green space expansion on grain production in Chinese cities and its implications for national urban greening schemes","authors":"Yulin Dong, Wenhui Kuang, Zhibin Ren, Yinyin Dou, Xiangzheng Deng","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01921-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01921-0","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Expansion of urban green space (UGS) enhances greenery and its benefits in cities. However, the impacts of such expansions on regional landscape sustainability and their spatiotemporal traits across the national scale remain unclear.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>This study uncovers a trade-off between agricultural ecosystem services and urban human well-being—the loss of grain production due to UGS expansion consuming cropland—in China from 2000 to 2020. It proposes a safety boundary for UGS expansion to minimize the costs of grain production while addressing the escalating demand for UGS exposure.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>UGS expansion and cropland loss are quantified using land cover products, with statistical data contributing to the established relationship between grain loss and UGS coverage. UGS expansion scenarios for 2040 are simulated through bottom-up modeling.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Quadrupled UGS area growth contributed approximately one-third to urban expansion during 2000–2020 in China. Despite improvements in per capita UGS area implying enhanced UGS exposure during rapid urbanization, UGS expansion resulted in a national grain production loss of 4.2 ± 1.4 million t from 2000 to 2020, accelerating post-2010. This loss is equivalent to the annual food intake of 9.3 million Chinese people. We propose a 30.87% UGS coverage target in China by 2040 to preserve UGS access while minimizing grain loss under future urbanization.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Acknowledging the critical role of UGS expansion in the issue of cropland loss to urbanization is imperative. Our results offer insights into ensuring human well-being and ecosystem services through landscape and urban planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141525623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Same, but different: similar states of forest structure in temperate mountain regions of Europe despite different social-ecological forest disturbance regimes","authors":"Ana Stritih, Cornelius Senf, Tobias Kuemmerle, Catalina Munteanu, Lasha Dzadzamia, Jernej Stritih, Dragan Matijašić, Owen Cortner, Rupert Seidl","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01908-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01908-x","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Ecosystem services provided by mountain forests are critically linked to forest structure. Social-ecological disturbance regimes (i.e., the rate, frequency, and patch size distribution of disturbances driven by interacting natural and anthropogenic processes) and land use affect forest structure, but their specific impacts are not fully understood.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We examine how differences in disturbance regimes affect patterns of forest structure across three European mountain ranges with similar vegetation types but different land-use histories: the European Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We related data on horizontal and vertical forest structure, measured by spaceborne lidar (GEDI), with Landsat-derived information on forest disturbances (1986–2020) and topographic, climatic, and anthropogenic predictors.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>We found similar social-ecological disturbance regimes in the Alps and Carpathians (average annual disturbance rates of 0.34% and 0.39%, respectively, and median patch size &lt; 0.5 ha), yet much lower disturbance rates and patch sizes in the Caucasus (0.08% yr⁻¹ and &lt; 0.2 ha). Despite different disturbance regimes, we found similar patterns of forest structure. Two alternative states emerged consistently across all mountain ranges: a tall and closed-canopy state in 74–80% of forests and a low and open-canopy state (&lt; 50% canopy cover) in the rest. While forest structure responded consistently to abiotic drivers such as topography and climate, its association with anthropogenic pressures differed between mountain ranges. Stand-replacing disturbances played an important role in the Carpathians, while forest structure in the Caucasus was related to proximity to settlements, reflecting local forest use.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Different social-ecological contexts in mountain regions can produce markedly different forest disturbance regimes. Despite these differences, similar states of forest structures emerge, suggesting strong attractors of structure in temperate mountain forests.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141255774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land-use change alters specialist bee diet and drives body size declines","authors":"Sarah E. Anderson, Philip Hahn, Gabriela Gonzalez, Rachel E. Mallinger","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01893-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01893-1","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Land-use change can cause decreases in plant abundance and richness and the replacement of wild plants with domesticated plants. Changes in plant community composition disrupt mutualistic plant-pollinator interactions with ecological consequences for plants and pollinators, and especially for specialists that rely on certain plants.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We assessed the effects of land-use change and subsequent shifts in plant communities on resource collection and body size for a bee pollinator, <i>Habropoda laboriosa</i>, a purported specialist of blueberries and related Ericaceae plants.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We collected <i>Habropoda laboriosa</i> across a gradient of land use in north-central Florida including agricultural, natural, and urban habitats. We assessed landcover and floral community composition at each site and related these to bee body size (intertegular distance) and resource use (proportion host plant pollen and pollen diversity collected).</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Host plant pollen collection and bee body size generally responded similarly to the landscape, both increasing with habitats containing host plants (blueberry farms and natural habitat) but decreasing with urban development. However, host pollen collection and bee body size responded in opposite ways to overall cropland in the landscape, with cropland negatively affecting body size despite positively affecting host pollen collection, indicating other factors associated with cropland might drive declines in bee body size.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Land-use change can adversely affect bee diet and body size, and changes in diet likely contribute to changes in body size over time. Specialists are particularly at risk for negative impacts of land-use change due to their inability to shift plant hosts.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141255769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relative effects of arable land-use, farming system and agri-environment schemes on landscape-scale farmland bird assemblages","authors":"Laura Bosco, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Markus Piha, Tuomas Seimola, Juha Tiainen, Johan Ekroos","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01906-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01906-z","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Farmland biodiversity has been declining because of agricultural intensification and landscape simplification. Many farmland birds breeding in non-crop habitats use arable land as their feeding habitat (and vice versa) and understanding habitat composition and configuration at the landscape scale is important for their conservation.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We explored the relationship between farmland bird densities and land-use characteristics at a landscape-scale (mean size 235 ha) to reveal the most important land-use elements driving avian farmland abundance.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We used bird territory mapping from 36 study landscapes across Finland to study relationships between densities of total farmland birds, open field species, edge species, farmyard species, and Farmland Bird Indicator (FBI) species, and multiple descriptors of the composition and configuration of the study landscape mosaics, reflecting the full range of available crop types, farmland structures, non-crop habitat types, and soil type.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Densities of farmland birds increased with greater areas of leys and pastures, subsidized grasslands, habitat diversity, and farmyards with animals, and those effects were consistently stronger compared to effects of non-crop habitats. Positive effects of the relative area of leys and pastures in the landscape was most often consistent in the species-specific models, whereas species-level responses to other landscape characteristics were idiosyncratic, reflecting the variety of the species’ ecologies and habitat requirements.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>We demonstrate that overall habitat diversity, and habitat elements like subsidized grasslands, pastures, and farmsteads with animal production support higher bird diversity at the level of landscape mosaics. Our results suggest that studies based on field-scale study units need to be complemented with landscape-scale studies to reveal a holistic understanding of land-use intervention impacts on farmland birds.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141195117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New criteria for sustainable land use planning of metropolitan green infrastructures in the tropical Andes","authors":"María José LaRota-Aguilera, Emmanuel Zapata-Caldas, Oscar Buitrago-Bermúdez, Joan Marull","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01911-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01911-2","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Urbanization is rapidly increasing worldwide, with about 60% of the global population currently residing in cities and expected to reach 68% by 2050. In Latin America's tropical Andes region, managing these changes poses challenges, including biodiversity loss and vulnerability to climate change.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>This study assesses urban growth and agricultural intensification impacts on the ecological functionality of metropolitan green infrastructures and their capacity to provide ecosystem services using a landscape sustainability and sociometabolic approach. Specifically, it aims to identify landscape configurations promoting socio-ecological sustainability amidst rapid urbanization.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>A landscape-metabolic model (IDC) was applied to evaluate the interactions between land use changes and ecosystem functions in the metropolitan region of Cali.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Agricultural intensification and industrialization, coupled with uncontrolled urban growth, have significantly transformed the landscape, posing threats to its sustainability. The prevailing biocultural landscapes hold a substantial potential to provide essential ecosystem services to the metropolis. The IDC offers an approach that utilizes a land cover map and agricultural production/metabolism data to calculate an indicator closely related to ecosystem services and multifunctionality.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>The IDC model stands out for efficiently capturing landscape dynamics, providing insights into landscape configuration and social metabolism without extensive resource requirements. This research highlights the importance of adopting a landscape-metabolic and green infrastructure framework to guide territorial policies in the tropical Andes and similar regions. It stresses the need for informed land use planning to address challenges and leverage opportunities presented by biocultural landscapes for regional sustainability amidst rapid urbanization and agricultural expansion.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141166909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Time-lag effects of habitat loss, but not fragmentation, on deadwood-dwelling lichens","authors":"Aino Hämäläinen, Lenore Fahrig","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01910-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01910-3","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Landscape habitat amount is known to increase biodiversity, while the effects of habitat fragmentation are still debated. It has been suggested that negative fragmentation effects may occur with a time lag, which could explain inconsistent results. However, there is so far no empirical support for this idea.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We evaluated whether habitat amount and fragmentation at the landscape scale affect the species density of deadwood-dwelling lichens, and whether these effects occur with a time lag.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We surveyed deadwood-dwelling lichens in woodland key habitats in two regions in northern Sweden, and modelled their species density as a function of past (1960s) and present (2010s) habitat amount (old forest area) and fragmentation (edge density) in the surrounding landscapes.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Present habitat amount generally had weak positive effects on lichen species density. Positive effects of the past habitat amount were stronger, indicating a time lag in habitat amount effects. Habitat fragmentation effects were generally weak and similar whether fragmentation was measured in the past or the present landscapes, indicating no time lag in fragmentation effects.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>We found a time lag effect of habitat amount, but not fragmentation. This result is not consistent with suggestions that time lags explain the mixed observations of fragmentation effects. Time-lag effects of habitat amount suggest that the studied lichen communities face an extinction debt. Conservation should therefore prioritize increasing the amount of old forest, for example by creating forest reserves, to maintain the current lichen diversity. More generally, our results imply that studies examining only the present habitat amount risk under-estimating its importance.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141173543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Behavioral state-dependent selection of roads by guanacos","authors":"Mitchell W. Serota, Pablo A. E. Alarcón, Emiliano Donadio, Arthur D. Middleton","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01909-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01909-w","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Widespread globally, roads impact the distribution of wildlife by influencing habitat use and avoidance patterns near roadways and disrupting movement across them. Wildlife responses to roads are known to vary across species; however within species, the response to roads may depend on the season or the individual’s behavioral state.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We assess the movement behavior and space use of the most widespread large herbivore in Patagonia, the guanaco (<i>Lama guanicoe).</i> We estimated the preference or avoidance to paved or unpaved roads (the proximity effect) and the preference or avoidance to traverse them (the crossing effect).</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>Using GPS collar data, we combined Hidden Markov Models with an integrated step selection analysis to segment guanaco movement trajectories into individual behaviors and test for differences in road effects on movement.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>We found that guanacos display distinct movement responses to different types of roads depending on their behavioral state. Guanacos select for proximity to paved roads while foraging, but against them when traveling. Yet, guanacos select for unpaved roads when traveling. Despite the selection for proximity to paved roads, guanacos avoid crossing them, irrespective of their behavioral state.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusion</h3><p>Our findings offer significant implications for guanaco distribution and management across Patagonia. The selection for roads strongly influences the distribution of guanacos, which could concentrate grazing in some areas while freeing others. Despite potential benefits such as increased vegetation near roadsides, increased association with roads while foraging may result in an ecological trap. Finally, the strong aversion to crossing paved roads raises concerns about habitat loss and connectivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141166677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Inferring future changes in gene flow under climate change in rivers capes: a pilot case study in fluvial sculpin","authors":"Souta Nakajima, Hiroaki Suzuki, Makoto Nakatsugawa, Ayumi Matsuo, Shun K. Hirota, Yoshihisa Suyama, Futoshi Nakamura","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01904-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01904-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141166939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From past habitats to present threats: tracing North American weasel distributions through a century of climate and land use change","authors":"Amanda E. Cheeseman, David S. Jachowski, Roland Kays","doi":"10.1007/s10980-024-01902-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01902-3","url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Context</h3><p>Shifts in climate and land use have dramatically reshaped ecosystems, impacting the distribution and status of wildlife populations. For many species, data gaps limit inference regarding population trends and links to environmental change. This deficiency hinders our ability to enact meaningful conservation measures to protect at risk species.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Objectives</h3><p>We investigated historical drivers of environmental niche change for three North American weasel species (American ermine, least weasel, and long-tailed weasel) to understand their response to environmental change.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>Using species occurrence records and corresponding environmental data, we developed species-specific environmental niche models for the contiguous United States (1938–2021). We generated annual hindcasted predictions of the species’ environmental niche, assessing changes in distribution, area, and fragmentation in response to environmental change.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>We identified a 54% decline in suitable habitat alongside high levels of fragmentation for least weasels and region-specific trends for American ermine and long-tailed weasels; declines in the West and increased suitability in the East. Climate and land use were important predictors of the environmental niche for all species. Changes in habitat amount and distribution reflected widespread land use changes over the past century while declines in southern and low-elevation areas are consistent with impacts from climatic change.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Our models uncovered land use and climatic change as potential historic drivers of population change for North American weasels and provide a basis for management recommendations and targeted survey efforts. We identified potentially at-risk populations and a need for landscape-level planning to support weasel populations amid ongoing environmental changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":54745,"journal":{"name":"Landscape Ecology","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140883017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}