Landscape and fine-scale movements of a leaf beetle: the importance of boundary behaviour

Movement underpins animal spatial ecology and is often modelled as habitat-dependent correlated random walks. Here, we develop such a model for the flightless tansy leaf beetle Chrysolina graminis moving within and between patches of its host plant tansy Tanacetum vulgare. To parameterize the model, beetle movement paths on timescales of minutes were observed in uniform plots of tansy and inter-patch matrix (meadow) vegetation. Movement lasted longer, covered greater distances and had narrower turning angles in the matrix. Simulations of the model emulated an independent two-season multi-patch mark–resight study at daily timescales and included variable boundary-mediated behaviour affecting the probability of leaving habitat patches. As boundaries in the model became stronger there were disproportionately large decreases in net displacements, inter-patch movements and the proportion of beetles in the matrix. The model produced realistic patterns of population-level displacement over periods up to 13 days with fully permeable boundaries for one dataset and strong boundaries for the other. This may be explained by the heights of the tansy patches in each study, as beetles will be unable to cross the boundary near the top of a patch that emerges from the matrix. The simulations demonstrate the important effects of boundary behaviour on displacement patterns and indicate temporal and spatial variability in permeability. Realistic models of movement must therefore include behaviour at habitat boundaries.

[1]  The influence of man , 1990 .

[2]  S. L. Lima,et al.  Towards a behavioral ecology of ecological landscapes. , 1996, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[3]  T. Benton,et al.  Causes and consequences of animal dispersal strategies: relating individual behaviour to spatial dynamics , 2005, Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[4]  S. Matter,et al.  Edge avoidance and movement of the butterfly Parnassius smintheus in matrix and non-matrix habitat , 2005, Landscape Ecology.

[5]  Steven F. Railsback,et al.  Individual-based modeling and ecology , 2005 .

[6]  E. Batschelet.  Circular statistics in biology , 1981 .

[7]  Donald L. DeAngelis,et al.  UNCERTAINTY IN SPATIALLY EXPLICIT ANIMAL DISPERSAL MODELS , 2003 .

[8]  John E. Banks,et al.  Effects of plot vegetation diversity and spatial scale on Coccinella septempunctata movement in the absence of prey , 2003 .

[9]  Göran Englund,et al.  SCALE DEPENDENCE OF EMIGRATION RATES , 2004 .

[10]  S. L. Lima,et al.  SEARCH STRATEGIES FOR LANDSCAPE‐LEVEL INTERPATCH MOVEMENTS , 1999 .

[11]  P. Kareiva,et al.  Analyzing insect movement as a correlated random walk , 1983, Oecologia.

[12]  K. Burnham,et al.  Program MARK: survival estimation from populations of marked animals , 1999 .

[13]  F. Rousset,et al.  Causes, Mechanisms and Consequences of Dispersal , 2004 .

[14]  Lenore Fahrig,et al.  How does landscape structure influence landscape connectivity , 2002 .

[15]  Robert Lee Schooley,et al.  Patchy Landscapes and Animal Movements: Do Beetles Percolate? , 1997 .

[16]  C. Dytham,et al.  Modelling population redistribution in a leaf beetle: an evaluation of alternative dispersal functions. , 2007, The Journal of animal ecology.

[17]  P. Turchin,et al.  Modelling the effect of host patch size on Mexican bean beetle emigration , 1986 .

[18]  Stephen P. Ellner,et al.  SCALING UP ANIMAL MOVEMENTS IN HETEROGENEOUS LANDSCAPES: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEHAVIOR , 2002 .

[19]  Juan M. Morales,et al.  EXTRACTING MORE OUT OF RELOCATION DATA: BUILDING MOVEMENT MODELS AS MIXTURES OF RANDOM WALKS , 2004 .

[20]  S. Hannunen.  Vegetation architecture and redistribution of insects moving on the plant surface , 2002 .

[21]  D. Chapman.  Spatial ecology of the tansy beetle (Chrysolina graminis) , 2006 .

[22]  S. Nusser,et al.  ANALYSIS OF PREDATOR MOVEMENT IN PRAIRIE LANDSCAPES WITH CONTRASTING GRASSLAND COMPOSITION , 2004 .

[23]  John A. Wiens,et al.  Finding habitat patches and directional connectivity , 2003 .

[24]  Kyle J. Haynes,et al.  Interpatch movement and edge effects: the role of behavioral responses to the landscape matrix , 2006 .

[25]  Otso Ovaskainen,et al.  Biased movement at a boundary and conditional occupancy times for diffusion processes , 2003, Journal of Applied Probability.

[26]  C. E. Bach,et al.  Effects of host plant patch size on herbivore density: underlying mechanisms , 1988 .

[27]  R. Wolfinger,et al.  Generalized linear mixed models a pseudo-likelihood approach , 1993 .

[28]  Wolf M. Mooij,et al.  Search paths of swans foraging on spatially autocorrelated tubers , 2002 .

[29]  Juan Manuel Morales,et al.  Behavior at Habitat Boundaries Can Produce Leptokurtic Movement Distributions , 2002, The American Naturalist.

[30]  Nicolas Schtickzelle,et al.  Behavioural responses to habitat patch boundaries restrict dispersal and generate emigration-patch area relationships in fragmented landscapes. , 2003, The Journal of animal ecology.

[31]  O. Kindvall.  Dispersal in a metapopulation of the bush cricket, Metrioptera bicolor (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) , 1999 .

[32]  Geir Huse,et al.  Individual‒Based Models , 2008 .

[33]  P. Kareiva,et al.  Finding and Losing Host Plants by Phyllotreta: Patch Size and Surrounding Habitat , 1985 .

[34]  C. E. Bach,et al.  Effects of Host Plant Patch Size on Herbivore Density: Patterns , 1988 .

[35]  J. F. Gilliam,et al.  A Diffusion‐Based Theory of Organism Dispersal in Heterogeneous Populations , 2003, The American Naturalist.

[36]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Predicting across scales: Theory development and testing , 1989, Landscape Ecology.

[37]  J. Aars,et al.  Demographic consequences of movements in subdivided root vole populations , 1999 .

[38]  N. Schtickzelle,et al.  Quantifying functional connectivity: experimental evidence for patch-specific resistance in the Natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) , 2004, Landscape Ecology.

[39]  Miguel Delibes,et al.  Effects of Matrix Heterogeneity on Animal Dispersal: From Individual Behavior to Metapopulation‐Level Parameters , 2004, The American Naturalist.

[40]  David R. Bowne,et al.  Searching strategy of the painted turtle Chrysemys picta across spatial scales , 2004, Animal Behaviour.

[41]  V. V. Krishnan,et al.  The Effects of Edge Permeability and Habitat Geometry on Emigration from Patches of Habitat , 1987, The American Naturalist.

[42]  I. Olivieri,et al.  10 – Life History Evolution in Metapopulations , 2004 .

[43]  P. Turchin.  Quantitative analysis of movement : measuring and modeling population redistribution in animals and plants , 1998 .

[44]  Uta Berger,et al.  Pattern-Oriented Modeling of Agent-Based Complex Systems: Lessons from Ecology , 2005, Science.

[45]  Ian D. Jonsen,et al.  The influence of matrix habitat on Aphthona flea beetle immigration to leafy spurge patches , 2001, Oecologia.

[46]  Volker Grimm,et al.  Using pattern-oriented modeling for revealing hidden information: a key for reconciling ecological theory and application , 2003 .