US-IALE 2018

AUTHORS: Jayme A. Prevedello, Rio de Janeiro State University; Victoria J. Bennett, Texas Christian University; Patrick A. Zollner*, Purdue University; Marcus V. Vieira, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT: Over two decades ago, Behavioral Landscape Ecology (BLE) emerged as a coalition between Behavioral Ecology and Landscape Ecology, especially after the publication of Lima & Zollner’s (1996; Trends Ecol. Evol. 11: 131-135) perspective paper. Based on 549 studies citing this paper, we review how Behavioral Landscape Ecology (BLE) has developed over this time, and propose a unifying framework to guide further development. The majority of papers were empirical (58%), although simulation (or modelling; 28%) and reviews (14%) were also common. About half (52%) of the papers were published in Ecology journals, with many of the remaining papers published in Zoology (14%), Conservation (11%) and Behavior (9%) journals. Mammals (36%), birds (29%) and invertebrates (20%) were the most studied taxonomic groups. Finally, behavioral studies predominantly focused on movement (42%), habitat selection (22%) and foraging (16%), whereas landscape issues addressed focused upon connectivity (23%), landscape composition (10%) and configuration (9%). Based on this review, we propose a conceptual framework portraying BLE as a distinct discipline, emerging from the combination of landscape and behavioral approaches to study ecological phenomena. The landscape approach comprises two main themes, landscape composition (including habitat quantity, matrix quality and edge permeability) and landscape configuration (including habitat fragmentation and presence of corridors). The behavioral approach also comprises two themes: movement (including dispersal and routine movements) and habitat selection (including foraging, conspecific attraction and anti-predatory behavior). When combined, these approaches lead to two emergent themes, inter-patch movement (including perceptual range, gap crossing and corridors use) and landscape-level habitat selection (including habitat patch, matrix , and edge use), which form the core of BLE. Over only two decades, BLE has brought essential insights to ecology and conservation, and we hope our review and framework stimulate continued advances.