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Keywords
Movement of organisms is one of the key mechanisms shaping biodiversity, e.g. the distribution of genes, individuals and species in space and time. Recent technological and conceptual advances have improved our ability to assess the causes and consequences of individual movement, and led to the emergence of the new field of ‘movement ecology’. Here, we outline how movement ecology can contribute to the broad field of biodiversity research, i.e. the study of processes and patterns of life among and across different scales, from genes to ecosystems, and we propose a conceptual framework linking these hitherto largely separated fields of research. Our framework builds on the concept of movement ecology for individuals, and demonstrates its importance for linking individual organismal movement with biodiversity. First, organismal movements can provide ‘mobile links’ between habitats or ecosystems, thereby connecting resources, genes, and processes among otherwise separate locations. Understanding these mobile links and their impact on biodiversity will be facilitated by movement ecology, because mobile links can be created by different modes of movement (i.e., foraging, dispersal, migration) that relate to different spatiotemporal scales and have differential effects on biodiversity. Second, organismal movements can also mediate coexistence in communities, through ‘equalizing’ and ‘stabilizing’ mechanisms. This novel integrated framework provides a conceptual starting point for a better understanding of biodiversity dynamics in light of individual movement and space-use behavior across spatiotemporal scales. By illustrating this framework with examples, we argue that the integration of movement ecology and biodiversity research will also enhance our ability to conserve diversity at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.
The Hazel Grouse Bonasa bonasia is strongly affected by forest dynamics, and populations in many areas within Europe are declining. As a result of the 'wilding' concept implemented in the National Park Bavarian Forest, this area is one of the refuges for the species in Germany. Even though the effects of prevailing processes make the situation there particularly interesting, no recent investigation about habitat selection in the rapidly changing environment of the national park has been undertaken. We modelled the species-habitat relationship to derive the important habitat features in the national park as well as factors and critical threshold for monitoring, and to evaluate the predictive power of models based on field surveys compared to an analysis of infrared aerial photographs. We conducted our surveys on 49 plots of 25 ha each where Hazel Grouse was recorded and on an equally sized set of plots with no grouse occurrence, and used this dataset to build a predictive habitat-suitability model using logistic regression with backward stepwise variable selection. Habitat heterogeneity, stand structure, presence of mountain ash and willow, root plates, forest aisles, and young broadleaf stands proved to be predictive habitat variables. After internal validation via bootstrapping, our model shows an AUC value of 0.91 and a correct classification rate of 87%. Considering the methodological difficulties attached to backward selection, we applied Bayesian model averaging as an alternative. This multi-model approach also yielded similar results. To derive simple thresholds for important predictors as a basis for management decisions, we alternatively ran tree-based modelling, which also leads to a very similar selection of predictors. Performance of our different survey approaches was assessed by comparing two independent models with a model including both data resources: one constructed only from field survey data, the other based on data derived from aerial photographs. Models based on field data seem to perform slightly better than those based on aerial photography, but models using both predictor datasets provided the highest predictive accuracy.
Ecohydrology analyses the interactions of biotic and abiotic aspects of our ecosystems and landscapes. It is a highly diverse discipline in terms of its thematic and methodical research foci. This article gives an overview of current German ecohydrological research approaches within plant-animal-soil-systems, meso-scale catchments and their river networks, lake systems, coastal areas and tidal rivers. It discusses their relevant spatial and temporal process scales and different types of interactions and feedback dynamics between hydrological and biotic processes and patterns. The following topics are considered key challenges: innovative analysis of the interdisciplinary scale continuum, development of dynamically coupled model systems, integrated monitoring of coupled processes at the interface and transition from basic to applied ecohydrological science to develop sustainable water and land resource management strategies under regional and global change.