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Are landscapes more than the sum of their patches?

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Abstract

Context

The species–area relationship (SAR) is the most ubiquitous scaling relationship in ecology, yet we still do not know how different aspects of scale affect this relationship. Scale is defined by grain, extent, and focus. Focus here pertains to whether patches or landscapes are used to derive SARs.

Objective

To explore whether altering the focal scale influences the resulting SAR. If the SAR is scale-invariant, patch-based and landscape-based SARs should be congruent.

Methods

I fit a power-law function (S = cA z) to arthropod data obtained from an experimental landscape system, in which habitat amount and configuration (clumped vs. fragmented) of red clover (Trifolium pratense) varied among plots (256 m2). The scaling coefficient (z) was compared among patch-based and landscape-based SARs for congruence.

Results

Patches gained species at a faster rate than landscapes (z = 0.37 vs. 0.26, respectively), producing domains of incongruity in the SAR. Landscape richness (S L) was greater than patch richness (S P) below 30 % habitat, but S P > S L above 60 % habitat. Landscape configuration contributed to this incongruity below 30 % habitat (fragmented S L > clumped S L), but landscape context (whether the largest patch was embedded in a fragmented or clumped landscape) was important above 60 % habitat for understanding the SAR in this domain.

Conclusions

Landscape configuration exerts both direct (<30 % habitat) and indirect (>60 % habitat) effects on the SAR. Because patch-based and landscape-based SARs may not be congruent, we should exercise care when extrapolating from patches to landscapes to make inferences about the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on species richness.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Grant through the National Science Foundation (DEB-9610159). I am indebted to Daniel M. Pavuk for his help in establishing this EMLS and conducting the arthropod survey upon which this analysis is based. I also thank the small army of undergraduates, many of whom were supported on NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Supplemental Grants, for their assistance in maintaining the plots and participating in various projects related to this research. Thanks are also due to the three anonymous reviewers of the manuscript, whose suggestions and comments were very much appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Kimberly A. With

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  1. Kimberly A. With
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Correspondence to Kimberly A. With.

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With, K.A. Are landscapes more than the sum of their patches?. Landscape Ecol 31, 969–980 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0328-8

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