Landscape Ecology

ContextAs global urbanization intensifies, Urban Green Spaces (UGS) are pivotal for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. However, comparative assessments of UGS spatial configuration and connectivity across diverse urban landscapes remain limited. ObjectivesThis study aims to assess the spatial arrangement and connectivity of UGS across 28 European capital cities. Additionally, we evaluate how Network Science metrics derived from Graph Theory can complement traditional landscape ecology metrics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of UGS at a large scale. MethodsWe developed a European Urban Vegetation Map using Earth observation data to classify UGS at 10m resolution across the selected capitals. We then analyzed UGS connectivity for each city utilizing 40 traditional landscape metrics and a Graph-Theory-based approach. ResultsWhile traditional landscape metrics effectively quantified fragmentation, they often remain strongly correlated with total vegetation abundance. In contrast, Network Science metrics provided specific insights into UGS functional connectivity, distinguishing the quality of ecological links beyond spatial proximity. This integration allowed us to cluster European capitals into three distinct typologies: unconnected compact cities, large metropolises with complex peri-urban dynamics, and high-connectivity cities with robust networks. These findings demonstrate that graph-based indices effectively complement traditional metrics, highlighting that relying solely on green space percentage is insufficient for assessing the ecological resilience of urban environments. ConclusionsThese results underscore the relevance of Earth observation-based UGS assessment and demonstrate that graph-based landscape connectivity analysis outperforms simple abundance metrics. Therefore, effective assessment requires integrating structural metrics with graph-based connectivity to support resilient urban biodiversity.

Habitat fragmentation, driven by human activities, disrupts habitat connectivity and alters ecological processes through geometric and demographic fragmentation effects. Dispersal plays a fundamental role in shaping the distribution, abundance, and persistence of species in modified landscapes. While previous research looked at the evolution of dispersal strategies at the species level, community-level dynamics remain underexplored. Species exhibit diverse dispersal strategies to persist in modified landscapes, yet predicting how these strategies interact at the community level requires a more integrated approach. This study employed an individual-based simulation model to explore how fragmentation and other landscape characteristics influence community-level dispersal strategies. We tested the effects of varying fragmentation levels, environmental autocorrelation, habitat amount, and disturbance levels on the emerging distribution of dispersal distances within a community in modified and continuous landscapes. We hypothesised that fragmentation and other spatial patterns would significantly shape community composition, favouring particular dispersal strategies under specific environmental conditions. The findings reveal that higher disturbance levels and greater habitat amount increased the community-weighted mean of dispersal distance, while fragmentation showed only minor variation. Additionally, low autocorrelation was associated with the highest community-weighted mean of dispersal distance. These results highlight the importance of considering community-level dynamics when predicting ecosystem responses to landscape modification. By clarifying how landscape structure and disturbance shape community-level dispersal strategies, this study advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying species persistence and community structure in modified landscapes.

Urban expansion drives land cover change and habitat simplification, contributing to biodiversity loss. Urban green spaces can mitigate these impacts, but their effectiveness depends on its configuration and implementation. Here, we examine how three complementary dimensions of environmental heterogeneity--plant species richness, habitat heterogeneity, and foliage-layer richness--shape bird richness along an urbanisation gradient in the Netherlands. Using bird and plant occurrence data, LiDAR-derived vegetation structure, and land-use data, we fitted generalized additive models at three spatial scales (100, 200, and 300 m) to assess how these relationships vary across the urbanisation gradient. Plant species richness showed the strongest and consistent positive effect on bird richness, disregarding urbanization intensities. Habitat heterogeneity showed most pronounced positive effects at intermediate levels of urbanisation. In contrast, foliage-layer richness had weak associations with bird richness across urbanization intensities. Together, these results demonstrate that sustaining urban bird diversity requires urbanisation-intensity-dependent design of green-space heterogeneity. Increasing plant richness is generally recommended across urbanization intensities. Increasing habitat heterogeneity is more effective at intermediate levels of urbanisation and appears less suitable in highly urbanised contexts. Beyond simply expanding green space area or their spatial complexity alone, urban planning should focus on the thoughtful design of different types of environmental heterogeneity. This includes city-wide species-rich planting and structurally diverse habitat mosaics in mid-density areas to sustain urban bird diversity.

AimHuman land-use has dramatically altered the amount, quality, and connectivity of habitat for species worldwide. Understanding how these changes affect individual species is essential for predicting the overall consequences of land-use change for biodiversity. LocationThe Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Forest cover on the island increased from about 18 to 45% from the late 1940s to the early 2000s. MethodsUsing data on geographic distributions and functional traits for 454 tree species, we evaluated how gain of potential habitat was related to species-specific climatic associations and life-history strategies. We estimated species-specific potential habitat (climatically suitable and forested) with species distribution models and data on forest cover. We characterized each species niche breadth (the range of environmental conditions it occupies) and niche position (the environmental conditions it prefers) to compare with the conditions in reforested areas. ResultsSpecies with relatively more potential habitat in 1951 (climatically suitable and forested) also had relatively larger gains in potential habitat from 1951 to 2000. Species that tend to occupy conditions different from those common in reforested areas (i.e., more marginal habitats) gained relatively less potential habitat and species with broad environmental niches gained more potential habitat. Additionally, species with relatively acquisitive functional traits gained more suitable habitat than those with relatively conservative traits. Main conclusionsOur results show that Puerto Ricos reforestation preferentially increased habitat for species that (1) already had suitable habitat in the landscape, (2) tolerate a wide range of climatic conditions, and (3) exhibit fast, acquisitive functional strategies. These findings illustrate how land-use change in heterogeneous tropical landscapes can generate non-uniform habitat gains across species, potentially favoring generalist over specialist species and reshaping community composition.

European mountain forests have been strongly shaped by past human activities, which have influenced their structure and composition. Assessing the natural tree-species composition of current forest landscapes is essential for evaluating their biodiversity potential and for informing management prioritization. High levels of compositional naturalness are often associated with greater ecosystem functioning, but it remains unclear whether forest landscapes that are closer to their potential forest composition are also less vulnerable to future climate change and natural disturbances. Using a process-based forest landscape model, we quantified the naturalness and the vulnerability to disturbances across a large forested area in the Italian Alps. We developed a spatially-explicit index to evaluate how closely current tree species composition matches potential forest composition. We then simulated future forest dynamics under multiple climate change and disturbance scenarios, using two different initial vegetation conditions on the same landscape - potential vs. current forest - and compared their vulnerability based on changes in species dominance, vegetation structure, and height heterogeneity. Results indicate that current forests exhibit generally low naturalness compared with their potential forest composition, reflecting historical management and agro-silvopastoral practices. The naturalness score changed depending on elevation across the landscape: forests at low (<1500 m a.s.l.) and high (>2100 m a.s.l.) elevations had low naturalness, while those in the mid-elevation range (1500-2100 m) exhibited medium to high levels of naturalness. Vulnerability to disturbances under climate change differed markedly between the two initial vegetation conditions. Current forest was more susceptible to bark beetle outbreaks, driven by past promotion of Norway spruce and further amplified by warming. In contrast, the potential forest was more vulnerable to wind disturbance, likely due to old-growth characteristics, such as greater height heterogeneity and canopy roughness, that increase blowdown susceptibility. This study provides the first assessment of forest naturalness using spatially explicit dynamic landscape modelling. Given the projected intensification of natural disturbances under future climates, our findings suggest that promoting more natural forest conditions alone may not guarantee higher resilience to climate-induced disturbances. Instead, management approaches should aim at increasing landscape-level structural and compositional heterogeneity in a balanced manner to minimizing future disturbance vulnerability.

AimAs cities densify and expand, the careful planning and design of green spaces are essential for supporting urban biodiversity. Here, we evaluate the relative contribution of habitat patches of varying size, quality, and connectivity to urban biodiversity and assess environmental factors driving differences in species richness and community composition. LocationZurich, Switzerland. Time period: 2008-2018.Major taxa studied: Invertebrates, vertebrates, and trees. MethodsWe analyzed species occupancy data from 452 habitat patches. We quantified alpha, beta, and gamma diversity, assessed species-area relationships, and applied generalized dissimilarity modelling to test the role of patch area, connectivity, and habitat quality--proxied through environmental variables, including vegetation complexity, water presence, and forest isolation--in shaping community composition. ResultsAlpha diversity increased significantly with area, although small patches (usually < 5 ha) disproportionately contributed to beta diversity. Per unit area, groups of small patches yielded higher gamma diversity than equivalent areas of large patches, particularly for trees and invertebrates. Community composition was strongly influenced by patch area, with effects mediated by vegetation complexity, water, and isolation, with responses differing among taxa. Main conclusionsSmall habitat patches play a critical role in enhancing overall urban biodiversity. They increase species richness through cumulative area effects and promote community turnover (mediated by environmental heterogeneity). Maintaining networks of small patches alongside large green spaces is therefore key to conserving biodiversity in urban landscapes.

The Santa Catalina Mountains are an iconic member of the Madrean Sky Islands, rising above Tucson, Arizona, USA, where the Catalina Highway connects Sonoran desertscrub to stands of conifer forest nearly 2,800 meters in elevation. As one of the [~]54 forested mountain areas in this system, the Santa Catalinas host unique biotic communities relative to the surrounding lowlands. However, most of these sky islands lack the surveys of resident small mammals (either historical or recent) needed for studying biodiversity in the context of changing climate and habitat use. From 2021 to 2023, we surveyed 10 localities on the north and south slopes of the Santa Catalina Mountains using holistic sampling methods to document terrestrial small mammal diversity and preserve multiple tissue types. Here we summarize these new collections relative to previous voucher specimens and human observations, identifying gaps for future work to address. Our survey recorded the presence of 15 species, preserved 150 voucher specimens paired with a suite of flash-frozen tissues, and non-lethally sampled another 219 individuals (ear tissue, feces, ectoparasites, and measurements) to provide populational data from sites where vouchering occurred. Despite the road accessibility and long history of sampling in the Santa Catalina Mountains, our surveys extended the known elevational range for 8 species, including the first known specimen of Reithrodontomys fulvescens from the area. Our use of a transect-based survey design, which maximizes species diversity across biotic communities, paired with holistic specimen preservation techniques, provides a model for surveying patterns of population genetic and parasite sharing relationships across other Madrean Sky Islands, bridging a [~]40 year lull in specimen preservation while adding new data dimensions that promote integrative studies of small mammal biodiversity. With more complete sampling, other mountains will offer promising replicates for studying eco-evolutionary impacts of the regions episodic habitat connectivity. Teaser textSurveying the terrestrial small mammals of the Santa Catalina Mountains, part of the Madrean Sky Islands, we analyze modern occurrences relative to previous records and demonstrate the potential value of holistically surveying sky island small mammals.

Understanding animal movement behavior is essential for conservation and elucidating various ecological processes. In particular, assessing habitat selection is a central theme in movement ecology, traditionally evaluated by estimating travel distances per unit time across diverse environmental conditions based on tracking data. Integrated step selection analysis (iSSA : Avgar et al., 2016) has been most widely applied in conservation studies and ecosystem service quantifications due to its ease of implementation and interpretability. Despite its popularity, however, iSSA faces a critical issue since it can lead to an underestimation of the travel distance per unit time, potentially biasing estimates of step length. This is primarily due to the assumption of linear interpolation between consecutive observed points, which fails to account for the unobserved locations and the actual, non-linear trajectories taken by the animal. In this paper, we proposed a novel method to improve the estimation of travel distance in iSSA, inspired by multiple imputation, which is a statistical method for missing data. We conducted a simulation study to evaluate the extent to which our proposed method, Multiple Imputation Step Selection Analysis (MiSSA), improves the accuracy of step-length estimation (parameters of gamma distribution) compared to conventional iSSA. In simulation studies across various scenarios, MiSSA estimated the step length more accurately than iSSA. Our study demonstrates that incorporating missing data statistics into the iSSA framework improves the accuracy of travel distance estimations, which serve as the foundation for evaluating habitat selection. MiSSA maintains the core advantages of iSSA while enabling more accurate estimation of travel distances, even with low-resolution data where movement between sampling intervals is non-linear. We anticipate its broad application across various disciplines, with a primary focus on conservation.

Understanding habitat suitability and landscape connectivity is essential for conserving wide-ranging carnivores in climate-sensitive high-altitude mountain ecosystems. The first occurrence record of the Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) from the Changthang region of Ladakh, India, has raised questions about whether this individual represents an isolated dispersal event or reflects functional connectivity with source populations on the Tibetan Plateau. To evaluate potential habitat suitability and transboundary connectivity, we compiled species occurrence records and associated environmental predictors and developed an ensemble species distribution model using biomod2. We then assessed landscape connectivity using circuit theory implemented in Circuitscape to identify potential ecological corridors. Our models indicate that approximately 1,011,818 km{superscript 2} (21.34%) of the combined Ladakh (India) and the Tibetan Plateau landscape is currently suitable for the species, of which only [~]207,000 km{superscript 2} represents highly suitable habitat. Annual precipitation, precipitation of the wettest month, and precipitation of the warmest quarter were the most influential predictors of habitat suitability. Connectivity analysis identified potential corridors linking the eastern Changthang region of Ladakh with suitable habitat on the Tibetan Plateau, suggesting plausible transboundary ecological connectivity. These results indicate that the recent record from Changthang is more likely driven by landscape-scale functional connectivity than by an isolated dispersal event. Although the mapped corridors represent probable connectivity pathways rather than confirmed movement routes, this study provides the first spatially explicit assessment of habitat suitability and potential transboundary connectivity for the Tibetan brown bear across the Ladakh and Tibetan Plateau landscape.

Restoration of degraded areas and post-disturbance rehabilitation after wildfire encompass critical approaches for reducing and reversing impacts of wind erosion and sand and dust storms (SDS). However, the broad outcomes of dryland restoration and rehabilitation for wind erosion and SDS remain underexplored. Wind erosion is an emerging issue in the Great Basin of the western United States, exacerbated by invasive annual grasses and associated wildfire. Here, we assess potential wind erosion and SDS responses to wildfire, restoration, and post-wildfire rehabilitation treatments at the regional scale in the Great Basin. We used 13 years of rangeland monitoring data, the Aeolian EROsion model, and the Land Treatment Digital Library to produce counterfactual model-predictions to estimate treatment effects. Our results revealed reductions in aeolian sediment fluxes (Ln Q < 0 g m-1 d-1) across wildfire-affected regions (mean {+/-} SE: -0.070 {+/-} 0.077 Ln Q), restoration treatments in unburned areas (range: -0.867 {+/-} 0.398 to 0.480 {+/-} 0.253 Ln Q), and post-wildfire rehabilitation (range: -0.821 {+/-} 0.183 to 1.278 {+/-} 0.909 Ln Q). In particular, aerial seeding and soil disturbance restoration treatments, and post-wildfire closure-treatments had higher perennial grass cover and the most decreased Ln Q compared to untreated controls. These results represent an important regional scale assessment of wind erosion responses to restoration and post-wildfire rehabilitation. Our findings underscore the application of integrating wind erosion and SDS mitigation into restoration and post-disturbance rehabilitation programs to provide land managers with strategies to reduce land degradation while fostering ecosystem resilience.

Animal population control is widely used to mitigate conflicts between wildlife and agriculture worldwide. Structured, monitored removals are rare in South America, however, and their consequences for wildlife populations as well as their effectiveness in reducing crop damage are little understood. Using eight years of data from an experimental white-lipped peccary management program in an agricultural mosaic in the Brazilian Cerrado biome, we assess how structured, non-lethal removals affect both peccary demography and second-crop corn damage. Leslie removal models based on 6,619 captured individuals indicated that cumulative removals to approximately 85% of the initial population strongly reduced peccary abundance, with limited demographic compensation despite fluctuations in reproductive output. Corn crop damage, quantified with satellite imagery, declined over time and was correlated with peccary population size. Interannual variation in population growth and juvenile recruitment was poorly explained by climate, fire, or landscape composition. Source-sink dynamics likely play a role in maintaining healthy populations at the regional scale. Together, these results demonstrate that sustained and monitored ungulate removals can reliably reduce population size and agricultural damage, supporting coexistence between wildlife and food crop production in human-dominated tropical landscapes.

Habitat loss and fragmentation have caused global biodiversity loss. It is important to understand the impact of past land use on biodiversity, not only in the present, but also to inform appropriate land-use strategies. Most studies on extinction debt, the concept that past land use drives present organism distribution, focus on species richness. However, when focusing on individual species, species richness is based on presence-absence data and does not reflect abundance. Therefore, extinction debt may not be clearly evident in presence-absence data. However, few studies have compared the effects of past land use on organism distribution using both abundance and presence-absence data. In this study, we compared the effects of past land use on the abundance and presence-absence of the ezo salamander Hynobius retardatus. We surveyed the aquatic areas of Ezo salamander egg sacs along a survey route in northern Japan. We measured the percentages of past and present forest areas, the physical environment, water quality, and waterbody type. The number of egg sacs was significantly associated with the percentage of past forest area, physical environment, water quality, and waterbody type. The presence or absence of egg sacs was significantly associated with the physical environment and water quality. Our results suggest that the effects of past land use on organism distribution are more evident in abundance data than in presence-absence data. Researchers and land managers may need to consider the time lag before extinction based on abundance data to assess extinction risk accurately.

Understanding how species that are threatened with extinction utilise human-modified landscapes is essential for evidence-based conservation. We investigated multi-scale habitat selection by the Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti), an Endangered species, endemic to central India with fewer than 1000 mature individuals, in the Dangs district of Gujarat, the westernmost extent of its range. Using a hierarchical Bayesian occupancy framework, we examined how forest cover and three agricultural land-use types (dry agriculture with trees, dry agriculture without trees, and intensive agriculture) affected occupancy across three nested spatial scales: regional (81 km2), landscape (4 km2), and territory (0.25 km2). At the regional scale, the forest x agriculture interaction term was significantly negative ({beta} = -6.82, 95% CI: -9.87 to -1.59), indicating that owlets favour agroforestry-dominated regions over forest-dominated landscapes. Conversely, at the landscape scale, a significant positive interaction ({beta} = 1.36, 95% CI: 0.41-2.50) revealed synergistic benefits from forest-agriculture mosaics. Agriculture type strongly influenced landscape-scale occupancy: dry agriculture with trees showed positive effects ({beta} = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.43-2.02), whereas dry agriculture without trees had significant negative effects ({beta} = -1.19, 95% CI: -2.28 to -0.29). These findings demonstrate that Forest Owlets are not forest-obligate specialists but occupy complex agroforestry mosaics, requiring multi-scale conservation strategies. We propose that the traditional Malki agroforestry system, which incentives tree retention on farmland, offers conditional compatibility with Forest Owlet conservation, provided that mature cavity-bearing trees and small forest patches are explicitly protected.

IntroductionHuman land-use intensification and the resulting habitat loss are primary drivers of insect pollinator declines. Habitat restoration offers a promising approach to counteract these declines, yet landscape-level evaluations of bee responses to restoration and management remain limited. We conducted a two-year, landscape-scale study in Wisconsin, USA, to assess how different intensities of tallgrass prairie restoration and management affect bumble bees (Bombus spp.). ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine whether (1) bumble bee abundance and diversity increase with assisted restoration, and (2) outcomes differ between low-(seeded only) and moderate-intensity (seeded and managed with prescribed fire) interventions. MethodsUsing catch-and-release surveys, we measured bumble bee abundance and diversity at 32 sites representing a gradient in restoration intervention: no intervention (unassisted recovery), low intervention, and moderate intervention. ResultsBumble bee abundance and diversity were higher at assisted restoration sites (low and moderate intervention) than at unassisted sites. Although both tended to be greater at moderate than low intervention intensities, these differences were not statistically significant. Bumble bee community composition also differed across intervention intensity, driven by shifts in dominant species (e.g., B. impatiens and B. griseocollis). Rarer taxa, including endangered and vulnerable species, occurred only at assisted restoration sites, with the largest populations at moderate intervention sites. Across all sites, bumble bee responses were strongly and positively associated with floral abundance, but not with semi-natural habitat in the surrounding landscape. ConclusionOur findings demonstrate that assisted grassland restoration can effectively increase bumble bee abundance and diversity, supporting its value as a conservation practice for pollinators. Implications for Practice: (1) Grassland restorations targeting plant communities can successfully support nontarget pollinators across a range of management intensities and landscape contexts. Adding seeds of pollinator-preferred plants could improve restorations with low floral abundance and diversity. (2) Management of existing restorations is important to maintain abundant floral resources and diverse pollinator communities. Because sites varied widely in prescribed fire use, our findings likely represent a conservative estimate of its benefits, and higher intervention intensity (e.g., repeated seeding, regular fire, mechanical or chemical shrub and invasive plants control) may further enhance outcomes for bumble bees.

Bird blowflies, Protocalliphora spp. (Diptera: Calliphoridae), are prevalent ectoparasites of altricial bird nestlings across the Holarctic region. Yet, their spatial and temporal dynamics of infestations, species composition, and interactions with parasitoids remain poorly understood. We present a 16-year (2004-2019) multisite study of bird blowfly infestations based on 2673 tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot) (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae), nests collected across a 10 200-km{superscript 2} gradient of agricultural intensity in Quebec, Canada. Nest infestation prevalence and parasitic load varied markedly across space and time but showed synchronous recurrence at approximately 75% of sites, suggesting the influence of regional and local processes. Yearly rates of parasitoidism of bird blowfly puparia by Nasonia spp. wasps (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) were high but variable (48-90%), likely contributing to the temporal fluctuations in bird blowfly prevalence and load. Substantial interannual shifts in the relative abundance of Protocalliphora species (P. bennetti, P. metallica, and P. sialia) emphasised the importance of species-level identification in bird blowfly ecological studies. Large overlap in puparia size among species challenged the utility of traditional diagnostic traits for species identification. Finally, dormancy or mortality of Nasonia spp. occurred in 3-16% of Protocalliphora spp. puparia, depending on year. These findings highlight the importance of long-term, multitrophic, and spatially explicit monitoring to unravel the drivers of host-parasite-parasitoid dynamics.

Understanding behavioral differences between non-native and closely related endangered species could be important to aid conservation management. In volume 169 of Zoology, Bels et al. (2025) reported on their comparison of display-action-patterns (DAP) between native Iguana delicatissima and non-native iguanas present on islands of the Guadeloupe Archipelago in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. Here, we address conceptual and methodological concerns about their work and reanalyze their data given our proposed corrections, primarily a literature-informed adjustment of their "species" category. We additionally utilize online videos from South American mainland I. iguana populations, from where the non-native iguanas in the Guadeloupe Archipelago originate, to better understand the different DAPs between native and non-native iguanas in the Guadeloupe Archipelago. Significant differences in DAP characteristics among "species" categories (native I. delicatissima, non-native iguanas, and hybrids) show that Bels et al. (2025) oversimplified their data analyses by merging all non-native populations into one group. This result indicates the presence of behavioral variation among subpopulations within widely hybridizing iguanid populations, which has been poorly studied. Additionally, videos from mainland populations across two major mitochondrial clades of Iguana iguana show that non-native iguanas on Guadeloupe retained DAP characteristics of those populations from which they originate. We discuss these findings in light of the proposed hypotheses put forward by Bels et al. (2025), of which two can be excluded. Overall, our reanalysis shows that studies focusing on characteristics within settings of complex hybridization in diverse species should acknowledge this complexity.

Mountain ecosystems face unprecedented pressures from anthropogenic activities and climate change, challenging the productivity of these vital habitats. In the Tien Shan mountains, understanding localized responses to these pressures is often hindered by the coarse spatiotemporal resolutions of available data. To address this, we combined high-resolution satellite imagery (1997-2021) to map land-cover dynamics in the Naryn oblast, Kyrgyzstan across a gradient of grazing intensities. We classified and quantified land-cover distribution over 24 years, investigating the roles of topography, elevation, and anthropogenic disturbances as drivers of change. Our results identify intermediate elevations, high degrees of disturbance, and the interaction between the two as the primary contributors to recent transitions in grassland, forest, and barren habitats. By integrating Landsat analysis-ready data, European Space Agency WorldCover dataset and digital elevation models at fine spatial scales, we provide valuable contemporary and historical landscape and habitat-level insights and a high-resolution framework for disentangling climate-driven shifts from land-use impacts. These findings highlight the urgency of localized management in remote, data-poor regions where rapid environmental change threatens both biodiversity and pastoral livelihoods. Our work serves as a critical baseline for characterizing the adaptability of semi-arid mountain rangelands under escalating global and regional pressures.

Establishing protected areas is a promising tool to address the accelerating loss of biodiversity. However, protection levels are often low, and there is an ongoing debate over the most effective spatial configuration of reserves. This debate rarely considers trophic structure and ignores biodiversity outside protected areas. In this study, we investigate which reserve configurations best support species diversity and the persistence of high trophic levels, across systems and spatial scales, both inside and outside protected areas. Using a spatially explicit stochastic model, we assess how reserve architecture influences multiple conservation objectives across 27 empirical terrestrial, freshwater, and marine food webs. Specifically, we explore reserve architecture along three dimensions: the aggregation of protected areas, their proportion at the landscape scale, and the effectiveness level of protection measures. Our results show that having few but larger protected areas enhances all conservation metrics within reserves, while diversity within and outside reserves is relatively insensitive to reserve aggregation. Smaller and more dispersed reserves improve the overall abundance of species off-reserves through spillover effects. Reconciling all objectives inside and outside reserves becomes feasible when protection effectiveness is sufficiently high. Increasing the efficiency of protection allows for a reduction in the total amount of protected land without compromising conservation outcomes. Moreover, higher species dispersal facilitates the achievement of multiple conservation goals, supporting the implementation of architectures that enhance connectivity among reserves. These findings highlight the importance of an integrated approach combining spatial ecology and trophic functioning to optimize protected area planning under multiple objectives.

Sky islands, mountain-top forests isolated by surrounding lowlands, offer unique opportunities to test how past and present landscapes shape species distributions. We examined the distribution of the Arizona gray squirrel (Sciurus arizonensis) across the Madrean Archipelago to test the constraint-based dynamic island biogeography (C-DIB) model, which posits that current occupancy in the sky islands reflects historical habitat size and connectivity. Using verified specimen records, we modeled climatically suitable habitats across four time periods: the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Mid-Holocene (MH), Present, and Future. For each mountain, we quantified suitable habitat area and estimated least-cost dispersal distances to assess both persistence and colonization potential. Our results suggest that species presence is best explained by LGM habitat metrics, which marginally outperformed models based on current conditions. Mountains that were large or well-connected during the LGM continue to support S. arizonensis, whereas historically isolated ranges remain unoccupied despite suitable contemporary habitat. These findings indicate a legacy of Pleistocene connectivity and reveal patterns of distributional disequilibrium. Furthermore, climatically suitable habitat for S. arizonensis has shifted both elevationally and geographically through time, reflecting long-term responses to climatic change. Together, these results emphasize the importance of protecting historically connected refugia, restoring riparian corridors that facilitate dispersal, and developing mountain range-specific management strategies that account for elevational shifts and potential downslope habitat recovery under future climate scenarios.

O_LIBiodiverse vegetation that supports high rates of ecosystem functions can inherently express a messy appearance due to high numbers of local native plant species and their spatial distribution connected to niche complementarity. This messiness is assumed to lower peoples appreciation for vegetation in urban contexts. Since such vegetation and a positive relationship between people and biodiversity could contribute to mitigating biodiversity loss, this assumed low public appreciation warrants investigation. C_LIO_LIWe designed and constructed biodiverse flowerbeds using only local native plants, and with the intention to enhance planting productivity, resistance and resilience. To investigate the influence of messiness, we created flowerbeds in four high levels of species richness (8,12,16,20) shown to be relevant for ecosystem functioning, and three levels of order (no, semi, full). We tested public appreciation for the flowerbeds using a self-guided, on-site survey. C_LIO_LIWe found a positive mean rating for all flowerbeds, but no effect of species richness on the ratings. Increased order, however, had a strong negative effect: The odds of a fully ordered flowerbed receiving a negative rating were 88% higher than of a flowerbed with no order. Increasing designed order was correlated with decreasing plant biomass in the flowerbeds. C_LIO_LIThese findings challenge the assumption that the appearance of biodiverse plantings is too messy for public appreciation in urban contexts. Specifically, we demonstrate that introducing order and reducing messiness can compromise aesthetic appreciation for biodiverse vegetation, potentially by compromising productivity as indicated by lower biomass production in ordered plantings. C_LI Synthesis and applicationOur study shows that biodiverse vegetation can be appreciated in urban contexts. Flowerbeds can effectively serve both people as ornamentation and biodiversity as habitat when they are designed based on ecological principles Research highlightsO_LIWe designed and realized flowerbeds based on ecological principles. C_LIO_LIAll plantings received positive average ratings. C_LIO_LIIncreasing species richness in the flowerbeds did not affect participants aesthetic appreciation. C_LIO_LIIncreasing order in the design of the flowerbeds strongly lowered participants aesthetic appreciation. C_LIO_LIIncreasing order in the design was correlated to lower biomass productivity and more bare soil in the flowerbeds. C_LI