How the relationship between vegetation cover and land-cover variance constrains biodiversity in a human dominated world

Martin, C. A., Proulx, R., Vellend, M. et Fahrig, L. (2021). How the relationship between vegetation cover and land-cover variance constrains biodiversity in a human dominated world. Landscape Ecology, 36 (11). pp. 3097-3104. ISSN 0921-2973 1572-9761 DOI 10.1007/s10980-021-01312-9

Prévisualisation

PDF Disponible sous licence Creative Commons Attribution. Télécharger (454kB) | Prévisualisation

Résumé

Abstract

Context

Alteration of natural vegetation cover across the landscape drives biodiversity changes. Although several studies have explored the relationships between vegetation cover and species richness, as well as between land-cover variance and species richness, few have considered the non-independence of these two biodiversity drivers.

Objectives

The goal of this perspective paper is to present theoretical and empirical relationships linking vegetation cover to land-cover variance at the landscape scale, and the implication of these relationships for species richness change along a gradient of increasing anthropization.
Methods and results
We used simulated and empirical Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data to examine the generality of the relationship between vegetation cover and land-cover variance. Using the province of Québec (Canada) as a case study, our results show that decreasing vegetation cover captures the transition from landscapes with low land-cover variance (non-anthropized landscapes), to intermediate variance (agricultural landscapes), to high variance (urban landscapes).

Conclusion

Based on this relationship between vegetation cover and land-cover variance, and assuming independent positive monotonic relationships between biodiversity and both of these drivers, we predict a unimodal relationship between species richness and anthropization. This suggests a threshold of anthropization beyond which the positive effects of land-cover variance no longer compensate for the negative effects of vegetation cover loss. Identifying these thresholds could be key to setting conservation targets at a landscape scale.

Type de document:	Article
Mots-clés libres:	Biodiversity Species richness Vegetation cover Environmental heterogeneity Landscape composition Landscape structure
Date de dépôt:	26 avr. 2026 15:19
Dernière modification:	26 avr. 2026 15:19
Version du document déposé:	Post-print (version corrigée et acceptée)
URI:	https://depot-e.uqtr.ca/id/eprint/12830

Actions (administrateurs uniquement)

Éditer la notice