Carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in a forest patchwork: a connectivity analysis of the Bereg Plain landscape graph |
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| Authors: | Ferenc Jordán Tibor Magura Béla Tóthmérész Vera Vasas Viktor Ködöböcz |
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| Institution: | 1.Collegium Budapest,Institute for Advanced Study,Budapest,Hungary;2.Animal Ecology Research Group of HAS, Hungarian Natural History Museum,Budapest,Hungary;3.Hortobágy National Park Directorate,Debrecen,Hungary;4.Ecological Institute of Debrecen University,Debrecen,Hungary;5.Department of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology,E?tv?s University,Budapest,Hungary |
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| Abstract: | For many species, one important key to persistence is maintaining connectivity among local populations that allow for dispersal
and gene flow. This is probably true for carabid species (Coleoptera:Carabidae) living in the fragmented forests of the Bereg
Plain (NE Hungary and W Ukraine). Based on field data, we have drafted a landscape graph of the area representing the habitat
network of these species. Graph nodes and links represented two kinds of landscape elements: habitat (forest) patches and
corridors, respectively. The quality of habitat patches and corridors were ranked (from low (1) to high (4)), reflecting local
population sizes in the case of patches and estimated permeability in the case of corridors. We analysed (1) the positional
importance of landscape elements in maintaining the connectivity of the intact network, (2) the effect of inserting hypothetical
corridors into the network, (3) the effects of improving the quality of the existing corridors, and (4) how to connect every
patch in a cost-effective way. Our results set quantitative priorities for conservation practice by identifying important
corridors: what to protect, what to build and what to improve. Several network analytical techniques were used to account
for the directed (source-sink) and highly fragmented nature of the landscape graph. We provide conservation priority ranks
for the landscape elements and discuss the conditions for the use of particular network indices. Our study could be of extreme
relevance, since a new highway is being planned through the area. |
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| Keywords: | Landscape graph Reachability Isolation Connectivity Carabidae Hungary Directed graph |
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