Context

Amphibians are declining worldwide and land use change to agriculture is recognized as a leading cause. Argentina is undergoing an agriculturalization process with rapid changes in landscape structure.

Objectives

We evaluated anuran response to landscape composition and configuration in two landscapes of east-central Argentina with different degrees of agriculturalization. We identified sensitive species and evaluated landscape influence on communities and individual species at two spatial scales.

Methods

We compared anuran richness, frequency of occurrence, and activity between landscapes using call surveys data from 120 sampling points from 2007 to 2009. We evaluated anuran responses to landscape structure variables estimated within 250 and 500-m radius buffers using canonical correspondence analysis and multimodel inference from a set of candidate models.

Results

Anuran richness was lower in the landscape with greater level of agriculturalization with reduced amount of forest cover and stream length. This pattern was driven by the lower occurrence and calling activity of seven out of the sixteen recorded species. Four species responded positively to the amount of forest cover and stream habitat. Three species responded positively to forest cohesion and negatively to rural housing. Two responded negatively to crop area and diversity of cover classes.

Conclusions

Anurans within agricultural landscapes of east-central Argentina are responding to landscape structure. Responses varied depending on species and study scale. Life-history traits contribute to responses differences. Our study offers a better understanding of landscape effects on anurans and can be used for land management in other areas experiencing a similar agriculturalization process.

Context

Intensive agricultural management practices and landscape homogenisation are the main drivers of biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes. Agricultural fields are regularly disturbed and provide unstable habitats due to crop management regimes. This may lead to movement of arthropods into neighbouring non-arable habitats, as natural and semi-natural habitats provide suitable overwintering sites.

Objectives

Here we assessed the effect of landscape composition and configuration on the overwintering spider and carabid fauna of grassy field margins and hedgerows.

Methods

We sampled ground-dwelling arthropods at field edges of different types (grassy field margin and hedgerows), landscape composition (diverse and simple) and configuration (mosaic and large-scale agricultural landscapes).

Results

We detected larger spiders in hedgerows than in grassy field margins and in complex landscapes rather than in simple landscapes. We found a significant effect of interaction between landscape composition and edge type on ballooning propensity of spiders. Agrobiont carabids were more abundant in field edges of compositionally simple and large-scale agricultural landscapes. Furthermore, we showed an effect of interaction between landscape composition and edge type on agrobiont spiders. We collected larger carabids in grassy field margins than in hedgerows and carabids were smaller in simple landscapes than in diverse landscapes. The spider community was affected by edge type, and landscape composition had a significant effect on the carabid community.

Conclusions

Small-scale agricultural landscapes may have higher overall densities of ground-dwelling spiders and carabids than large scale landscapes due to the relatively high edge density and the higher quantity of available overwintering sites.

Context

Landscape spatio-temporal heterogeneity is regarded as an important driver of biodiversity. In agricultural landscapes, the composition and configuration of cultivated fields and their multi-year dynamics should be considered. But the habitat-matrix paradigm in landscape ecology has resulted in little consideration of cropped areas.

Objectives

The main objective of our study was to determine the influences of spatial and multi-year temporal heterogeneity of the crop mosaic on carabid beetle assemblages of agricultural landscapes.

Methods

Carabids were sampled in 40 cereal fields in western France, and their species richness, total abundance and abundance of species groups with different dispersal abilities were measured. For each sampling site, we computed different metrics that characterized crop mosaic spatial and temporal heterogeneity. We quantified relationships between carabid assemblages and heterogeneity metrics and tested their significance.

Results

Total carabid abundance increased with increase in temporal heterogeneity of the crop mosaic. However, all species were not influenced in the same way by spatial and temporal heterogeneity metrics. Some species with high dispersal power such as Trechus quadristriatus were more abundant in landscapes with high spatial heterogeneity, whereas the abundance of less mobile species such as Poecilus cupreus were only positively influenced by temporal crop dynamics.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that both the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the crop mosaic affects farmland biodiversity, at least for species that use crops during their life cycle or disperse through fields. We highlight the importance of taking this heterogeneity into account in further ecological studies on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.

Context

Understanding the factors contributing to maintaining biodiversity is crucial to mitigate the impact of anthropogenic disturbances. Representing large proportions of green area in highly modified landscapes, residential gardens are often seen as local habitats that can contribute to larger networks of suitable environments at the landscape scale.

Objectives

We investigated the impact of the landscape context on butterfly communities observed in residential gardens, taking into account garden characteristics, land-use types and presence of linear features in the surrounding landscape. We examined how species traits affected butterflies’ response to landscape context and habitat quality.

Methods

We performed a cross-scale study, based on citizen science data documenting butterfly species composition and abundance in 920 gardens across France. We examined the effect of garden quality, the area of different land-use types and the length of linear elements measured at three scales within the surrounding landscape. Species were grouped according to their habitat preference and mobility.

Results

Urbanization negatively affected total species richness and the abundance of butterfly in each group. This was related to declining habitat quality and reduced area of suitable habitat in the surrounding landscape. The magnitude of this effect, however, was negatively correlated with mobility, a trait related to habitat preference. The spatial scale at which landscape context best explained variation in butterfly abundance changed with species’ habitat preference.

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance of preserving high quality habitats in altered landscapes and considering species’ mobility and habitat preference when assessing the impact of landscapes on butterfly communities.

Context

Despite decades of research, there is an intense debate about the consistency of the hump-shaped pattern describing the relationship between diversity and disturbance as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH). Previous meta-analyses have not explicitly considered interactive effects of disturbance frequency and intensity of disturbance on plant species diversity in terrestrial landscapes.

Objective

We conducted meta-analyses to test the applicability of IDH by simultaneously examining the relationship between species richness, disturbance frequency (quantified as time since last disturbance as originally proposed) and intensity of disturbance in forest landscapes.

Methods

The effects of disturbance frequency, intensity, and their interaction on species richness was evaluated using a mixed-effects model.

Results

We found that species richness peaks at intermediate frequency after both high and intermediate disturbance intensities, but the richness-frequency relationship differed between intensity classes.

Conclusions

Our study highlights the need to measure multiple disturbance components that could help reconcile conflicting empirical results on the effect of disturbance on plant species diversity.

Context

The effects of agricultural intensification on service-providing communities remain poorly studied in perennial cropping systems. However, such systems differ greatly from annual cropping systems in terms of spatio-temporal dynamics and levels of disturbance. Identifying how land use changes at different scales affect communities and ecosystem services in those habitats is of major importance.

Objectives

Our objectives were to examine the effects of local and landscape agricultural intensification on ground beetle community structure and weed seed predation services.

Methods

We examined the effects of local vegetation management and landscape context on ground beetle community structure and weed seed predation in 20 vineyards of southwestern France in 2013 and 2014. Vineyards were selected along a landscape complexity gradient and experienced different management of local vegetation.

Results

The activity-density of ground beetles decreased with increasing landscape complexity while species richness and evenness remained unchanged. Phytophagous and macropterous species dominated ground beetle communities. Seed predation was positively related to the activity-density of one species, Harpalus dimidiatus, and was not affected by local management or landscape context. We found that within-year temporal diversity in ground beetle assemblages increased with landscape complexity.

Conclusions

Our study shows that increasing the proportion of semi-natural habitats in vineyard landscapes enhances the temporal diversity of ground beetles. However, we also found that measures targeting specific species delivering biological control services are a reasonable strategy if we are to maximize natural pest control services such as weed seed regulation to support crop production and reduce agrochemical use.

Context

When modeling a species’ distribution, landscapes can alternatively be conceptualized following patch- or gradient-based approaches. However, choosing the most suitable conceptualization is difficult and methods for empirical validation are still lacking.

Objectives

To address the conditions under which a given conceptual model is more suitable, taking into account landscape context and species trait dependency effects. Patch- and gradient-based conceptualizations were built based on two structurally different landscapes: variegated and mosaic. We hypothesize that: (H1) gradient-based models better describe variegated landscapes while patch-based models perform better in mosaic landscapes; and (H2) gradient-based models will fit generalist species better while patch-based models will suit specialists better.

Methods

We modeled the distribution of eleven bird species in each landscape using each conceptualization. We determined the suitability of each conceptual model to fit statistical models by looking for cross-species responses and deviations from best models.

Results

We found no clear support for our hypotheses. Although patch-based models performed better in mosaic landscapes (H1), they also provided useful conceptualizations in variegated landscapes. However, when patches showed high heterogeneity, gradient-based approaches better fit specialist species (H2).

Conclusions

The suitability of a given conceptual model depends on the interaction between species habitat specialization, and the intrinsic spatial heterogeneity of the landscape and the ability of each conceptualization to capture it. Gradient-based models provide better information on resource allocation, while patch-based models offer a simplified perspective on landscape attributes. Future research should consider the nature of both species and landscapes in order to avoid bias from inadequate landscape conceptualizations.

Context

Increasing demands on land for agriculture have resulted in large-scale clearance and fragmentation of forests globally. In fragmented landscapes, species that tolerate or exploit the matrix will persist, while those that do not, frequently decline. Knowledge of matrix use is therefore critical to predicting extinction proneness of species in modified landscapes and defining the value of land for conservation management.

Objectives

In a fragmented landscape consisting of seven remnant patches surrounded by agricultural land and a large Eucalyptus forest, we explored (i) population connectivity of common ringtail possums, Pseudocheirus peregrinus, to determine the permeability of the agricultural matrix, and (ii) genetic consequences of forest fragmentation.

Methods

238 common ringtail possums were screened at 14 microsatellite markers and analysed using a range of genetic techniques.

Results

We observed significant genetic differentiation among all patches and limited dispersal through the agricultural matrix, even between neighbouring patches. Consequences of this were a six- to ten-fold increase in genetic dissimilarity over an equivalent geographic distance across patches compared with sites in the continuous forest and a significant reduction in genetic diversity, particularly in patches that were geographically more isolated from their neighbours.

Conclusions

We conclude that the agricultural matrix has a number of characteristics that make it unsuitable for facilitating movement of possums through this landscape, and recommend several management strategies to mitigate the impacts of fragmentation on this and other arboreal species for their conservation.

Context

In agricultural landscapes, riparian forests are used as a management tool to protect stream ecosystems from agricultural activities. However, the ability of managers to target stream protection actions is limited by incomplete knowledge of scale-specific effects of agriculture in riparian corridor and catchment areas.

Objectives

We evaluated scale-specific effects of agricultural cover in riparian corridor and catchment areas on stream benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) communities to develop cover targets for agricultural landscapes.

Methods

Sixty-eight streams assigned to three experimental treatments (Forested Riparian, Agricultural Riparian, Agricultural Catchment) were sampled for BMIs. Ordination and segmented regression were used to assess impacts of agriculture on BMI communities and detect thresholds for BMI community metrics.

Results

BMI communities were not associated with catchment agricultural cover where the riparian corridor was forested, but were associated with variation in catchment agriculture where riparian forests had been converted to agriculture. Trait-based metrics showed threshold responses at greater than 70% agricultural cover in the catchment. Increasing agriculture in the riparian corridor was associated with less diverse and more tolerant BMI communities. Eight metrics exhibited threshold responses ranging from 45 to 75% agriculture in the riparian corridor.

Conclusions

Riparian forest effectively buffered streams from agricultural activity even where catchment agriculture exceeds 80%. We recommend managers prioritize protection of forested riparian corridors and that restore riparian corridors where agricultural cover is near identified thresholds be a secondary priority. Adoption of catchment management actions should be effective where the riparian corridor has been converted to agriculture.

Context

In modern agricultural landscapes, fragmentation of partial habitats is a significant filter for multi-habitat users, reducing local taxonomic and functional diversity. There is compelling evidence that small species are more susceptible than large species. The impact of habitat fragmentation on intraspecific body-size distribution, however, is yet unexplored.

Objectives

We tested habitat fragmentation, a major driver of pollinator loss, for its impact on intraspecific body-size distributions of solitary wild-bee species. Subsequently, we tested individual body size for its impact on pollination services.

Methods

We sampled 1272 individuals of the four most common Andrena wild bee species in 22 newly established flowering fields (0.21–0.41 ha) in Hessen, Central Germany, over two consecutive years. Study sites were located in a ca. 80 ha landscape context of increasing habitat fragmentation. We analysed the pollen loads of the most abundant species.

Results

Body size within local populations of the two medium-sized bees increased with fragmentation, suggesting intraspecific selection for higher dispersal capacity. Pollen analysis carried out for the most common species revealed that larger individuals visited a significantly smaller plant spectrum. Habitat fragmentation may thus alter pollination services without necessarily affecting species richness or composition.

Conclusions

Systematic body-size variation at the population level thus explains the considerable variability between simple community measures and ecosystem functioning. Filtering processes at the individual level require increased understanding for targeting pollination services under current and future land-use change.

Context

This study synthesizes evidence from three separate surveys of American Black Duck and Mallard breeding habitat usage to quantify the effects of agriculture at the landscape scale.

Objectives

To assess duck breeding activity in agricultural landscapes within the Canadian maritimes in order to measure the overall impact of agricultural land use, the response to particular agricultural activities, and the influence of landscape configuration.

Methods

Models, constructed using a long-term census (SURVEY1), were used to predict habitat selection for two other independent surveys (SURVEY2, SURVEY3). Predictions incorporated information about wetland area and diversity, as well as anthropogenic factors, allowing subsequent analyses to focus on the remaining residual error attributable to agricultural effects.

Results

SURVEY2 results demonstrated that the proportion of active agriculture is an important indicator of the severity of human disturbance, yielding threshold estimates of 39% for Mallards and 60% for Black Ducks, with an overall average of 50%. Agricultural conversion beyond these thresholds deterred breeding ducks independently of other factors. SURVEY3 land cover information demonstrated that the presence of cropland intensified this deterrence effect, even at levels as low as 10%. Woodland cover (in excess of 30%) was important for both species, but its configuration was not.

Conclusions

In addition to quantifying threshold effects, this study reaffirms that woodland is an important part of the maritime landscape matrix, and contributes positively to habitat diversity in mixed use, moderate intensity agricultural regions. Wetland restoration in agricultural landscapes should monitor and promote less crop-intensive, mixed-use practices.

Context

Native vegetation is often used as a proxy for habitat to estimate habitat availability in landscapes. This approach may lead to incorrect estimates of the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on species, which have not been thoroughly quantified so far.

Objectives

We quantified to what extent the loss of native vegetation reflect actual habitat loss by native species in landscapes. We tested the hypothesis that habitat availability declines at greater rates than native vegetation and thus is overestimated when it is quantified on the basis of native vegetation.

Methods

Using simulations, we quantified how the loss of native vegetation in artificial and real landscapes affects habitat availability for species with different habitat requirements. We contrasted a generalist species, which uses all native vegetation, with 10 habitat-specialist species classified into three categories (interior, patchy and riparian species).

Results

Habitat availability generally declined at greater rates than native vegetation for all specialist species. This pattern was apparent for different specialist species in a broad range of landscape types. Interior species always lost habitat availability more rapidly than the generalist species. Most riparian species lost habitat availability more rapidly than the generalist species. Responses of patchy species were more complex, depending on their dispersal abilities and landscape structure.

Conclusions

Habitat availability is likely to be overestimated when native vegetation is used as proxy for habitat, because habitat availability will generally decline at greater rates than native vegetation. Therefore, a species-centered approach should be adopted when estimating habitat availability in landscapes.

Context

Transportation and wildlife agencies may consider the need for barrier structures and safe wildlife road-crossings to maintain the long-term viability of wildlife populations. In order to prioritize these efforts, it is important to identify species that are most at risk of extirpation from road-related impacts.

Purpose

Our goal was to identify reptiles and amphibians in California most susceptible to road mortality and fragmentation. With over 160 species and a lack of species-specific research data, we developed an objective risk assessment method based upon road ecology science.

Methods

Risk scoring was based upon a suite of life history and space-use characteristics associated with negative road effects applied in a hierarchical manner from individuals to species. We evaluated risk to both aquatic and terrestrial connectivity and calculated buffer distances to encompass 95% of population-level movements. We ranked species into five relative categories of road-related risk (very-high to very-low) based upon 20% increments of all species scores.

Results

All chelonids, 72% of snakes, 50% of anurans, 18% of lizards and 17% of salamander species in California were ranked at high or very-high risk from negative road impacts. Results were largely consistent with local and global scientific literature in identifying high risk species and groups.

Conclusions

This comparative risk assessment method provides a science-based framework to identify species most susceptible to negative road impacts. The results can inform regional-scale road mitigation planning and prioritization efforts and threat assessments for special-status species. We believe this approach is applicable to numerous landscapes and taxonomic groups.

Context

The landscape heterogeneity hypothesis states that increased heterogeneity in agricultural landscapes will promote biodiversity. However, this hypothesis does not detail which components of landscape heterogeneity (compositional or configurational) most affect biodiversity and how these compare to the effects of surrounding agricultural land-use.

Objectives

Our objectives were to: (1) assess the influence of the components of structural landscape heterogeneity on taxonomic diversity; and (2) compare the effects of landscape heterogeneity to those of different types of agricultural land-use in the same landscape across different taxonomic groups.

Methods

We identified a priori independent gradients of compositional and configurational landscape heterogeneity within an agricultural mosaic of north-eastern Swaziland. We tested how bird, dung beetle, ant and meso-carnivore richness and diversity responded to compositional and configurational heterogeneity and agricultural land-use across five different spatial scales.

Results

Compositional heterogeneity best explained species richness in each taxonomic group. Bird and ant richness were both positively correlated with compositional heterogeneity, whilst dung beetle richness was negatively correlated. Commercial agriculture positively influenced bird species richness and ant diversity, but had a negative influence on dung beetle richness. There was no effect of either component of heterogeneity on the combined taxonomic diversity or richness at any spatial scale.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that increasing landscape compositional heterogeneity and limiting the negative effects of intensive commercial agriculture will foster diversity across a greater number of taxonomic groups in agricultural mosaics. This will require the implementation of different strategies across landscapes to balance the contrasting influences of compositional heterogeneity and land-use. Strategies that couple large patches of core habitat across broader scales with landscape structural heterogeneity at finer scales could best benefit biodiversity.

Context

Anthropogenic activities readily result in the fragmentation of habitats such that species persistence increasingly depends on their ability to disperse. However, landscape features that enhance or limit individual dispersal are often poorly understood. Landscape genetics has recently provided innovative solutions to evaluate landscape resistance to dispersal.

Objectives

We studied the dispersal of the common meadow brown butterfly, Maniola jurtina, in agricultural landscapes, using a replicated study design and rigorous statistical analyses. Based on existing behavioral and life history research, we hypothesized that the meadow brown would preferentially disperse through its preferred grassy habitats (meadows and road verges) and avoid dispersing through woodlands and the agricultural matrix.

Methods

Samples were collected in 18 study landscapes of 5 × 5 km in three contrasting agricultural French regions. Using circuit theory, least cost path and transect-based methods, we analyzed the effect of the landscape on gene flow separately for each sex.

Results

Analysis of 1681 samples with 6 microsatellites loci revealed that landscape features weakly influence meadow brown butterfly gene flow. Gene flow in both sexes appeared to be weakly limited by forests and arable lands, whereas grasslands and grassy linear elements (road verges) were more likely to enhance gene flow.

Conclusion

Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of greater dispersal through landscape elements that are most similar to suitable habitat. Our spatially replicated landscape genetics study allowed us to detect subtle landscape effects on butterfly gene flow, and these findings were reinforced by consistent results across analytical methods.

Context

The role of agricultural landscapes in biodiversity conservation is an emerging topic in a world experiencing a worrying decrease of species richness. Farm systems may either decrease or increase biological diversity, depending on land-use intensities and management.

Objectives

We present an intermediate disturbance-complexity model (IDC) of cultural landscapes aimed at assessing how different levels of anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystems affect the capacity to host biodiversity depending on the land matrix heterogeneity. It is applied to the Mallorca Island, amidst the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot.

Methods

The model uses the disturbance exerted when farmers alter the Net Primary Production through land-use change as well as when they remove a share of it (HANPP), together with Shannon–Wiener index (H′) of land-cover diversity. The model is tested with a twofold-scalar experimental design (1:50,000 and 1:5000) of a set of landscape units along three time points (1956, 1989, 2011). Species richness of breeding and wintering birds, taken as a biodiversity proxy, is used in an exploratory factor analysis.

Results

The results clearly show that when intermediate levels of HANPP are performed within intermediate levels of complexity (H′) in landscape patterns, like agro-forest mosaics, great bird species richness and high socio-ecological resilience can be maintained. Yet, these complex-heterogeneous landscapes are currently vanishing due to industrial farm intensification, rural abandonment and urban sprawl.

Conclusions

The results make apparent the usefulness of transferring the concept of intermediate disturbance-complexity interplay to cultural landscapes. Our spatial-explicit IDC model can be used as a tool for strategic environmental assessment of land-use planning.

Context

The relative importance of habitat area and connectivity for species richness is often unknown. Connectivity effects may be confounded with area effects or they may be of minor importance as posited by the habitat-amount hypothesis.

Objectives

We studied effects of habitat area and connectivity of linear landscape elements for plant species richness at plot level. We hypothesized that connectivity of linear landscape elements, assessed by resistance distance, has a positive effect on species richness beyond the effect of area and, further, that the relative importance of connectivity varies among groups of species with different habitat preferences and dispersal syndromes.

Methods

We surveyed plant species richness in 50 plots (25 m²) located on open linear landscape elements (field margins, ditches) in eight study areas of 1 km² in agricultural landscapes of Northwest Germany. We calculated the area of linear landscape elements and assessed their connectivity using resistance distance within circular buffers (500 m) around the plots. Effects of area and connectivity on species richness were modelled with generalised linear mixed models.

Results

Species richness did not increase with area. Resistance distance had significant negative effects on total richness and on the richness of typical species of grasslands and wetlands. Regarding dispersal syndromes, resistance distance had negative effects on the richness of species with short-distance, long-distance and aquatic dispersal. The significant effects of resistance distance indicated that species richness increased with connectivity of the network of linear landscape elements.

Conclusions

Connectivity is more important for plant species richness in linear landscape elements than area. In particular, the richness of plant species that are dispersal limited and confined to semi-natural habitats benefits from connective networks of linear landscape elements in agricultural landscapes.

Purpose

Most of the agricultural landscape in Europe, and elsewhere, consists of mosaics with scattered fragments of semi-natural habitat like small forest fragments. Mutual interactions between forest fragments and agricultural areas influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, a process strongly mediated by the macrodetritivore community, which is however, poorly studied. We investigated macrodetritivore distribution patterns at local and landscape-level and used a key functional trait (desiccation resistance) to gain mechanistic insights of the putative drivers.

Methods

Macrodetritivores were sampled in forest edges-centres of 224 European forest fragments across 14 landscapes opposing in land use intensity. We used a multilevel analysis of variance to assess the relative contribution of different spatial scales in explaining activity-density and Shannon-diversity of woodlice and millipedes, together with a model-based analysis of the multivariate activity-density data testing the effect on species composition. Secondly, we tested if desiccation resistance of macrodetritivores varied across communities at different spatial scales using linear mixed effect models.

Results

Forest edge-centre and landscape use intensity determined activity-density and community composition of macrodetritivores in forest fragments, while fragment characteristics like size and continuity were relatively unimportant. Forest edges and higher intensity landscapes supported higher activity-density of macrodetritivores and determined species composition. Forest edges sustained woodlouse communities dominated by more drought tolerant species.

Conclusions

Landscape use intensity and forest edges are main drivers in macrodetritivore distribution in forest fragments with desiccation resistance a good predictor of macrodetritivore distribution. Key functional traits can help us to predict changes in community structure in changing landscapes.

Context

The umbrella approach applied to landscape connectivity is based on the principle that the conservation or restoration of the dispersal habitats for some species also can facilitate the movement of others. Species traits alone do not seem to be enough to identify good connectivity umbrella species, showing the need to investigate the influence of additional factors on this property.

Objectives

We test whether the potential of a species as a connectivity umbrella can be influenced by landscape composition and configuration.

Methods

We simulated movement routes for eight hypothetical species in artificial patchy landscapes with different levels of fragmentation, habitat amount and matrix permeability. We determined the effectiveness of the connectivity umbrella of the virtual species using pairwise intersections of important habitats for their movements in all landscapes.

Results

The connectivity umbrella performance of all species was affected by the interaction of fragmentation level and habitat amount. In general, species performance increased with decreasing fragmentation and increasing habitat amount. In most landscapes and considering the same dispersal threshold, species able to move more easily through the matrix showed higher umbrella performance than those for which the matrix offered greater resistance.

Conclusions

The connectivity umbrella is not a static feature that depends only on the species traits, but rather a dynamic property that also varies according to the landscape attributes. Therefore, we do not recommend spatial transferability of the connectivity umbrella species identified in a landscape to others that have divergent levels of fragmentation and habitat quantity.

Context

Agroecosystems produce food and many other services that are crucial for human well-being. Given the scales at which the processes underlying these services take place, agricultural landscapes appear as appropriate spatial units for their evaluation and management. The design of sustainable agricultural landscapes that value these services has thus become a pressing issue but faces major challenges stemming from the diversity of processes, their interactions and the number of scales at stake. Agricultural landscape modelling can provide a key contribution to this design but must still overcome several difficulties to offer reliable tools for decision makers.

Objectives

Our study aimed at shedding light on the main scientific and technical difficulties that make the building of landscape models that may efficiently inform decision-makers a complex task, as well as translating them in terms of challenges that can be further investigated and discussed.

Methods

We examine current issues and challenges and indicate future research needs to overcome the scientific and technical obstacles in the development of useful agricultural landscape models.

Results

We highlight research perspectives to better couple landscape patterns and process models and account for feedbacks, integrate the decisions of multiple stakeholders, consider the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of data and processes, explore alternative landscape organisations and assess multiobjective performance.

Conclusion

Coping with the issues and challenges discussed in this paper should improve our understanding of agroecosystems and give rise to new hypotheses, thereby informing future research.