Population resilience to an extreme drought is influenced by habitat area and fragmentation in the local landscape

Oliver, Tom H.; Brereton, Tom; Roy, David B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-0331. 2013 Population resilience to an extreme drought is influenced by habitat area and fragmentation in the local landscape. Ecography, 36 (5). 579-586. 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07665.x

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07665.x

Abstract/Summary

Most studies on the biological impact of climate change have focussed on incremental climate warming, rather than extreme events. Yet responses of species’ populations to climatic extremes may be one of the primary drivers of ecological change. We assess the resilience of individual populations in terms of their sensitivity to- and ability to recover from- environmental perturbation. We demonstrate the method using a model species, the ringlet butterfly Aphantopus hyperantus, and analyse the effects of an extreme drought event using data from 79 British sites over 10 yr. We find that populations crashed most severely in drier regions but, additionally, the landscape structure around sites influenced population responses. Larger and more connected patches of woodland habitat reduced population sensitivity to the drought event and also facilitated faster recovery. Having enough, sufficiently connected habitat appears essential for species’ populations to be resilient to the increased climatic variability predicted under future scenarios.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07665.x
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 2 - Ecological Processes in the Environment > BD - 2.1 - Interactions ... structure ecosystems and their functioning
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Pywell
ISSN:	0906-7590
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	11 Jan 2013 10:09 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21033

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07665.x

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 2 - Ecological Processes in the Environment > BD - 2.1 - Interactions ... structure ecosystems and their functioning

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Pywell

ISSN:

0906-7590

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment