Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs?
Semi-natural agricultural habitats have declined in northern Europe since the 1950s, to the detriment of habitat connectivity and biodiversity. European agri-environmental schemes to restore them should target the habitats most likely to remedy these impacts. We employed a stochastic individual-base...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2014
|
| _version_ | 1826280004004085760 |
|---|---|
| author | Moorhouse, T Palmer, S Travis, J al., E |
| author_facet | Moorhouse, T Palmer, S Travis, J al., E |
| author_sort | Moorhouse, T |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Semi-natural agricultural habitats have declined in northern Europe since the 1950s, to the detriment of habitat connectivity and biodiversity. European agri-environmental schemes to restore them should target the habitats most likely to remedy these impacts. We employed a stochastic individual-based simulation model to predict movements of a model species, the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), across a series of virtual landscapes - digitised from a typical UK lowland agricultural area - in which the abundance of hedgerow, pasture fields and field margin had been manipulated according to a factorial design. The primary landscape determinant of distances that model hedgehogs travelled was the percentage of field boundaries that were hedgerow: doubling this from the status quo resulted in an additional 13% of individuals moving 500. m, 25% 1000. m, 35% 1500. m and 51% 2000. m. Trebling the percentage of hedge yielded no additional benefit over doubling it (mean additional percentage 0.6%). Doubling the landscape percentage of pastures resulted in a 1% increase in model individuals moving 500. m and 1000. m, but decreases for 1500. m and 2000. m (-2% and -4%, respectively). Increasing the percentage of hedged fields that also had field margins led to decreases of -1% to -8% in individuals moving any distance. Agri-environmental scheme options to reinstate or repair hedges that double their percentage in lowland farmland would enhance population connectivity for European hedgehogs. Further work should extend these individual-based models to representative sets of species to explore the extent to which management for one species may benefit others. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:07:16Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:77f41619-e364-4e75-9306-9772dda7db74 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:07:16Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:77f41619-e364-4e75-9306-9772dda7db742022-03-26T20:27:36ZHugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:77f41619-e364-4e75-9306-9772dda7db74Symplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2014Moorhouse, TPalmer, STravis, Jal., ESemi-natural agricultural habitats have declined in northern Europe since the 1950s, to the detriment of habitat connectivity and biodiversity. European agri-environmental schemes to restore them should target the habitats most likely to remedy these impacts. We employed a stochastic individual-based simulation model to predict movements of a model species, the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), across a series of virtual landscapes - digitised from a typical UK lowland agricultural area - in which the abundance of hedgerow, pasture fields and field margin had been manipulated according to a factorial design. The primary landscape determinant of distances that model hedgehogs travelled was the percentage of field boundaries that were hedgerow: doubling this from the status quo resulted in an additional 13% of individuals moving 500. m, 25% 1000. m, 35% 1500. m and 51% 2000. m. Trebling the percentage of hedge yielded no additional benefit over doubling it (mean additional percentage 0.6%). Doubling the landscape percentage of pastures resulted in a 1% increase in model individuals moving 500. m and 1000. m, but decreases for 1500. m and 2000. m (-2% and -4%, respectively). Increasing the percentage of hedged fields that also had field margins led to decreases of -1% to -8% in individuals moving any distance. Agri-environmental scheme options to reinstate or repair hedges that double their percentage in lowland farmland would enhance population connectivity for European hedgehogs. Further work should extend these individual-based models to representative sets of species to explore the extent to which management for one species may benefit others. |
| spellingShingle | Moorhouse, T Palmer, S Travis, J al., E Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title | Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title_full | Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title_fullStr | Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title_short | Hugging the hedges: might agri-environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs? |
| title_sort | hugging the hedges might agri environment manipulations affect landscape permeability for hedgehogs |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moorhouset huggingthehedgesmightagrienvironmentmanipulationsaffectlandscapepermeabilityforhedgehogs AT palmers huggingthehedgesmightagrienvironmentmanipulationsaffectlandscapepermeabilityforhedgehogs AT travisj huggingthehedgesmightagrienvironmentmanipulationsaffectlandscapepermeabilityforhedgehogs AT ale huggingthehedgesmightagrienvironmentmanipulationsaffectlandscapepermeabilityforhedgehogs |