A simulation experiment on the potential of hedgerows as movement corridors for forest carabids

Understanding the response of organisms to heterogeneous, mosaic-like landscapes is of key importance for landscape ecology, especially for predicting the consequences of the impacts of landscape patterns on the spatial distribution of species. It is of current interest whether simulation models can carry out the necessary transformation between field data and larger spatial and temporal scales. We present a model which simulates the small scale movements of forest carabids, adjusted to a typical representative, Abax parallelepipedus, through hedgerows of different widths and lengths. The modelled individual's responses to the heterogeneous landscape differ because movement patterns, survival times and boundary reactions differ among the different patch types. We evaluate the transition probability through hedgerows as the proportion of the individuals attaining a patch at the end of a hedgerow. Our results predict maximum immigration distances of about 100 m into hedgerows for forest carabids during one season which corresponds with empirical findings based on trapping studies. This result is a promising example that the effect of landscape-dependent movements can be estimated using suitable simulation models and that transformation between the different scales inherent in the empirical methods, tracing and trapping is possible.

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