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Evaluating least-cost model predictions with empirical dispersal data: a case-study using radiotracking data of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)

Evaluating least-cost model predictions with empirical dispersal data: a case-study using radiotracking data of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)
Evaluating least-cost model predictions with empirical dispersal data: a case-study using radiotracking data of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)
Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss are widely recognized as major threats to biodiversity on a regional as well as on a global scale. To restrict its effects, ecological networks such as the trans-European network NATURA2000 are being developed based on the assumption that structural connections between habitat fragments lead to increased exchange through dispersal and a higher viability of (meta)populations. However, there is a great need for techniques that translate these networks and/or structural characteristics of landscapes into functional connectivity for specific organisms. Least-cost analysis has the capacities to fulfil these needs, but has never been validated against actual observations of dispersal paths. Here we present a method to validate the results of a least-cost analysis by comparing realized movement paths of hedgehogs in unfamiliar areas, obtained by radiotracking, with statistics on landscape-wide distribution of cost values. The degree of correspondence between empirical dispersal paths and the output of a least-cost analysis can be visualized and quantified, and least-cost scenarios can be statistically compared. We show that hedgehogs moved along paths with significantly lower cost values than the average landscape, implying that they took better than random routes, but performance was relatively poor. We attribute this to the relatively generalist habitat use of the model species and the rather homogeneous landscapes. We conclude that this approach can be useful for further validation of the least-cost model and allows a direct comparison of model performance among different taxa and/or landscapes.
least-cost model, dispersal path, cost-distance, connectivity, erinaceus europaeus
0304-3800
314-322
Driezen, Kassandra
327d0385-a7d6-4485-8edb-8703ac6e7cc4
Adriaensen, Frank
512f4b4e-a3c4-40d8-928f-0693ad0d9069
Rondinini, Carlo
4df1c1cd-fe44-4078-abf8-19033abc2e40
Doncaster, C. Patrick
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047
Matthysen, Erik
bb5451e1-b063-4f99-8daf-94b6a12e2246
Driezen, Kassandra
327d0385-a7d6-4485-8edb-8703ac6e7cc4
Adriaensen, Frank
512f4b4e-a3c4-40d8-928f-0693ad0d9069
Rondinini, Carlo
4df1c1cd-fe44-4078-abf8-19033abc2e40
Doncaster, C. Patrick
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047
Matthysen, Erik
bb5451e1-b063-4f99-8daf-94b6a12e2246

Driezen, Kassandra, Adriaensen, Frank, Rondinini, Carlo, Doncaster, C. Patrick and Matthysen, Erik (2007) Evaluating least-cost model predictions with empirical dispersal data: a case-study using radiotracking data of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). Ecological Modelling, 209 (2-4), 314-322. (doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.07.002).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss are widely recognized as major threats to biodiversity on a regional as well as on a global scale. To restrict its effects, ecological networks such as the trans-European network NATURA2000 are being developed based on the assumption that structural connections between habitat fragments lead to increased exchange through dispersal and a higher viability of (meta)populations. However, there is a great need for techniques that translate these networks and/or structural characteristics of landscapes into functional connectivity for specific organisms. Least-cost analysis has the capacities to fulfil these needs, but has never been validated against actual observations of dispersal paths. Here we present a method to validate the results of a least-cost analysis by comparing realized movement paths of hedgehogs in unfamiliar areas, obtained by radiotracking, with statistics on landscape-wide distribution of cost values. The degree of correspondence between empirical dispersal paths and the output of a least-cost analysis can be visualized and quantified, and least-cost scenarios can be statistically compared. We show that hedgehogs moved along paths with significantly lower cost values than the average landscape, implying that they took better than random routes, but performance was relatively poor. We attribute this to the relatively generalist habitat use of the model species and the rather homogeneous landscapes. We conclude that this approach can be useful for further validation of the least-cost model and allows a direct comparison of model performance among different taxa and/or landscapes.

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More information

Published date: 16 December 2007
Keywords: least-cost model, dispersal path, cost-distance, connectivity, erinaceus europaeus

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 49502
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/49502
ISSN: 0304-3800
PURE UUID: 42f75a58-6623-4679-95f9-3e795c1d3b0c
ORCID for C. Patrick Doncaster: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9406-0693

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Date deposited: 13 Nov 2007
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:49

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Contributors

Author: Kassandra Driezen
Author: Frank Adriaensen
Author: Carlo Rondinini
Author: Erik Matthysen

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