Fragmentation and reduced continuity of habitat patches threaten the environment and biodiversity. Recently, ecological networks are increasingly attracting the attention of researchers as they provide fundamental frameworks for environmental protection. This study suggests a set of procedures to construct an ecological network. First, we proposed a method to construct a landscape resistance su...

Most habitat models developed for defining priority conservation sites target areas currently exhibiting suitable habitat conditions. For species whose habitats have been altered by land use practices, these models may fail to identify sites with the potential of producing suitable habitats, if management practices were modified. Using capercaillie Tetrao urogallus as an example, we propose a m...

community An ecological term referring to a set of species that occur in the same location that have the potential to affect each other either directly or indirectly. community structure The web of potential biological interactions among members of a community that may be characterized in terms of diversity, complexity, hierarchy, and stability. ecotone A zone of transition between two differen...

Rainforests biodiversity is sustained by the three-dimensional structure of their canopy which provides a wide range of physical microenvironments. Given the dynamic nature of the forest, the recognition of stable vertical layers or strata in the canopy is controversial. The spatial characterisation of potential habitats of understory species is not straightforward due to the complex structure ...

Frame-building bryozoans occasionally occur in sufficient densities in New Zealand waters to generate habitat for other macrofauna. The environmental conditions necessary for bryozoans to generate such habitat, and the distributions of these species, are poorly known. Bryozoan-generated habitats are vulnerable to bottom fishing, so knowledge of species' distributions is essential for management...

Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) is a threatened species under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. In southern Québec, field based inventories are ongoing to determine its abundance and potential habitat. The goal of this research was to develop means for mapping of potential habitat based on primary habitat attributes that can be detected with high-resolution remotely sensed imagery. Using e...

The range-wide habitat status of many endangered species is unclear. We evaluated the status and spatial distribution of the habitat of the endangered giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) across its entire geographic range (i.e., six mountain regions located in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, China) by integrating field and remotely sensed data to develop a habitat distribution model. Res...

Many large, fishery-targeted predatory species have attained very high relative densities as a direct result of protection by no-take marine reserves. Indirect effects, via interactions with targeted species, may also occur for species that are not themselves targeted by fishing. In some temperate rocky reef ecosystems, indirect effects have caused profound changes in community structure, notab...

Methods Stage-structured populations of species differing in traits and habitat requirements competed for space in a grid-based model. Demographic processes (recruitment, reproduction, mortality, dispersal) and resource competition were explicitly simulated. Demographic rates and carrying capacity followed metabolic constraints. We simulated 50 species pools until reaching stable communities. S...