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Una Prueba Experimental de la Permeabilidad de la Matriz y el Uso de Corredores por una Especie de Sotobosque Endémica
Author(s) -
CASTELLÓN TRACI D.,
SIEVING KATHRYN E.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00332.x
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , habitat , understory , habitat fragmentation , ecology , geography , vegetation (pathology) , fragmentation (computing) , shrub , seed dispersal , landscape connectivity , disturbance (geology) , temperate rainforest , habitat destruction , agroforestry , biology , canopy , population , ecosystem , medicine , paleontology , demography , pathology , sociology
Because of widespread habitat fragmentation, maintenance of landscape connectivity has become a major focus of conservation planning, but empirical tests of animal movement in fragmented landscapes remain scarce. We conducted a translocation experiment to test the relative permeability of three landscape elements (open habitat, shrubby secondary vegetation, and wooded corridors) to movement by the Chucao Tapaculo ( Scelorchilus rubecula ), a forest understory bird endemic to South American temperate rainforest. Forty‐one radio‐tagged subjects were translocated (individually) to three landscape treatments consisting of small release patches that were either entirely surrounded by open habitat (pasture), entirely surrounded by dense shrubs, or linked to other patches by wooded corridors that were otherwise surrounded by open matrix. The number of days subjects remained in release patches before dispersal (a measure of habitat resistance) was significantly longer for patches surrounded by open habitat than for patches adjoining corridors or surrounded by dense shrubs. These results indicate that open habitat significantly constrains Chucao dispersal, in accord with expectation, but dispersal occurs equally well through wooded corridors and shrub‐dominated matrix. Thus, corridor protection or restoration and management of vegetation in the matrix (to encourage animal movement) may be equally feasible alternatives for maintaining connectivity.