Distribution patterns of plants explained by human movement behaviour |
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| Authors: | Marc Niggemann Jens Jetzkowitz Stefan Brunzel Matthias C Wichmann Ronald Bialozyt |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Conservation Biology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 8, 35032 Marburg, Germany;2. Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany;3. Research Centre for Society and Ecology, University of Marburg, 35032 Marburg, Germany;4. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, CEH Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK;1. Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, C/ José Gutiérrez Abascal, 28006 Madrid, Spain;2. Forest Ecology and Restoration Group, Department of Life Sciences, Science Building, University of Alcala, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain;3. CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 1919, route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France;4. Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA;5. Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group, Microsoft Research Cambridge, 7 J J Thomson Ave, Cambridge CB3 0FB, UK;6. CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade de Évora, CIBIO, Largo dos Colegiais, 7000 Évora, Portugal;7. Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen DK-2100, Denmark;1. Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Überlandstrasse 133, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland;2. Field Station Fabrikschleichach, University of Würzburg, Glashüttenstr. 5, D-96181 Rauhenebrach, Germany;3. Evolution and Ecology Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria |
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| Abstract: | Distribution patterns of plants are affected by human activities such as creation, destruction or modification of habitats. However, another important question is to what extent humans shape plant distributions by acting as dispersal vectors. In order to answer this question we developed a simulation model for the spread of plant species between human settlements. This was done on the basis of extensive sociological and ecological data on a regional scale. With regard to the sociological data, human movement behaviour defined the amount of exchange between the settlements. Gardening types represented the potential habitat in our model. The ecological data was derived from a vegetation survey carried out in 2003, which was a repeat of a survey between 1974 and 1981 along the same transects. From these surveys, we studied the distributions of 13 species in 67 settlements. In our model, the earlier survey provided the data for the initial distribution. The simulated pattern was consequently compared with the distribution pattern in 2003. In the model, dispersal kernels based on patterns of human movement between settlements led to a better match with the distribution patterns than a null model simulating pure distance dependent dispersal for all species. This was statistically significant for seven of the thirteen species. A striking result was that alien species seem to benefit more from human dispersal than native species. We emphasize the importance of the sociological data on human movement behaviour in parameterizing our regional scale model. This study provides quantitative evidence on the impact of human movement behaviour on the distribution of plant species in suburban areas. |
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