Context

Research on the impacts of anthropogenic habitat fragmentation has dominated landscape ecology for decades, yet our understanding of what drives species’ distributions in naturally fragmented landscapes remains limited.

Objectives

We aimed to (i) determine whether rocky patches embedded within a ‘matrix’ of fire prone grasslands act as naturally fragmented landscapes for an endangered marsupial predator, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), and (ii) reveal the extent to which within-patch, patch, landscape variables, and matrix condition drive the occurrence of northern quolls.

Methods

We deployed remote sensing cameras for a total of 200 nights, at 230 sites spanning rocky and grassland habitats across 6000 km² of the Pilbara bioregion of Western Australia. We examined the influence of within-patch, patch, landscape variables, and matrix condition on northern quolls using Generalised Linear Mixed Models.

Results

We found strong evidence that northern quoll habitat is naturally fragmented, observing higher occurrence and abundance of quolls in rocky patches than the surrounding grassland matrix. Within rocky patches, quolls were more likely to use patches with higher vegetation cover and den availability (within-patch), lower amounts of edge habitat relative to patch area (patch), and larger amounts of surrounding rocky habitat (landscape). When quolls entered the matrix, they tended to remain in areas with high vegetation cover, close to rocky patches.

Conclusions

Species occurrence in naturally fragmented landscapes is influenced by factors operating at multiple scales. Rocky habitats are naturally fragmented and vital to the conservation of a range of taxa around the world, including the northern quoll.

中文翻译：

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棘刺海中的岩石心脏：濒临灭绝的有袋动物捕食者的发生在自然破碎的景观中是多尺度依赖的

语境

关于人为栖息地破碎化影响的研究已经占据了景观生态学的主导地位数十年，但是，我们对驱动自然破碎化景观中物种分布的因素的理解仍然有限。

目标

我们的目的是（i）确定埋在易火草原中“矩阵”中的岩石斑块是否作为濒临灭绝的有袋动物捕食者北（Dasyurus hallucatus）的自然破碎景观，以及（ii）揭示在多大程度上-斑块，斑块，地貌变量和矩阵条件驱动北部骨的发生。

方法

我们在西澳大利亚Pilbara生物区的6000 km ²的岩石和草地栖息地的230个地点部署了总共200个晚上的遥感摄像机。我们使用广义线性混合模型研究了片内，片内，景观变量和矩阵条件对北部干旱的影响。

结果

我们发现有力的证据表明，北部丘陵生境是自然破碎的，与周围的草地矩阵相比，在岩石斑块中观察到的丘陵发生率和丰度更高。在岩石斑块中，雄伟动物更有可能使用植被覆盖率和巢穴可用性较高（斑块内），相对于斑块区域的边缘栖息地数量较少（斑块）以及周围岩石栖息地数量较大（景观）的斑块。当松鼠进入矩阵时，它们倾向于留在植被覆盖率高的地区，靠近岩石斑块。

结论

自然破碎景观中物种的发生受到多种规模因素的影响。岩石栖息地自然零散，对于保护包括北部荒漠在内的世界范围内的一个分类单元至关重要。