Should I Stay or Should I Go? A Habitat-Dependent Dispersal Kernel Improves Prediction of Movement

The analysis of animal movement within different landscapes may increase our understanding of how landscape features affect the perceptual range of animals. Perceptual range is linked to movement probability of an animal via a dispersal kernel, the latter being generally considered as spatially invariant but could be spatially affected. We hypothesize that spatial plasticity of an animal's dispersal kernel could greatly modify its distribution in time and space. After radio tracking the movements of walking insects (Cosmopolites sordidus) in banana plantations, we considered the movements of individuals as states of a Markov chain whose transition probabilities depended on the habitat characteristics of current and target locations. Combining a likelihood procedure and pattern-oriented modelling, we tested the hypothesis that dispersal kernel depended on habitat features. Our results were consistent with the concept that animal dispersal kernel depends on habitat features. Recognizing the plasticity of animal movement probabilities will provide insight into landscape-level ecological processes

Networking Our Way to Better Ecosystem Service Provision.

The ecosystem services (EcoS) concept is being used increasingly to attach values to natural systems and the multiple benefits they provide to human societies. Ecosystem processes or functions only become EcoS if they are shown to have social and/or economic value. This should assure an explicit connection between the natural and social sciences, but EcoS approaches have been criticized for retaining little natural science. Preserving the natural, ecological science context within EcoS research is challenging because the multiple disciplines involved have very different traditions and vocabularies (common-language challenge) and span many organizational levels and temporal and spatial scales (scale challenge) that define the relevant interacting entities (interaction challenge). We propose a network-based approach to transcend these discipline challenges and place the natural science context at the heart of EcoS research.The QUINTESSENCE Consortium gratefully acknowledges the support of Départment SPE and Métaprogramme ECOSERV of INRA, and the French ANR projects PEERLESS (ANR-12-AGRO-0006) and AgroBioSE (ANR-13-AGRO-0001).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2015.12.00

Sus scrofa scrofa in southern France and seed dispersion by this animal

The fate of the seeds consumed in summer time by the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa L.) in Hérault (Southern France) is discussed, following the examination of 105 faeces. Most of the seeds eaten, mainly acorns of the Holm oak (Quercus ilex) and wheat seeds (Triticum vulgare) are large-sized and destroyed when eaten. The percentage of other seeds in the diet was appreciable only in the more open environments. The percentage of seeds destroyed during digestion decreases with their size. For example, 75 % of the 40 small see ds from dry fruits (diameter < 4 mm) were found undamaged in Wild Boar faeces. Although the Wild Boar basically remains a seed predator, the hypothesis is put forward that it can also play some role in plant dispersa

Evaluation qualitative et calculs de distances entre distributions de valeurs calculées et observées: application à un modèle biotechnique du kiwi

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Évolution de la production laitière et du poids vif des vaches laitières au cours de leur carrière

International audienc