Influence of land mosaic composition and structure on patchy populations: the case of the water vole (Arvicola sapidus) in Mediterranean farmland.

ABSTRACT: The ability of patchy populations to persist in human-dominated landscapes is often assessed using focal patch approaches, in which the local occurrence or abundance of a species is related to the properties of individual patches and the surrounding landscape context. However, useful additional insights could probably be gained through broader, mosaic-level approaches, whereby whole land mosaics with contrasting patch-network and matrix characteristics are the units of investigation. In this study we addressed this issue, analysing how the southern water vole (Arvicola sapidus) responds to variables describing patch-network and matrix properties within replicated Mediterranean farmland mosaics, across a gradient of agricultural intensification. Patch-network characteristics had a dominant

SUBMITTER: Pita R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3713055 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature