Human-induced land use changes create both challenges and opportunities for wildlife. Cultivated areas represent a food source but bear a risk of human-wildlife conflict. In the Middle Atlas of Morocco, the Endangered Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) has experienced increasing grazing in its forest habitat and conversion of pastures adjacent to forest to croplands, in which macaques now forage. Orchard owners hire wardens to deter macaques from entering croplands. To inform human-wildlife coexistence strategies, we examined how resource availability and perceived risk, measured by the daily presence of wardens and canopy openness (Barbary macaques are reluctant to cross open areas), influenced macaques’ use of crops and natural foods. Over 9 months, we monitored space use and diets in two groups, one with access to orchards and one without. We used “spatial reaction norms” to describe how each group adjusted its habitat preferences across seasons, in response to temporal variation in resource availability in the group’s home range. Our results showed that macaques selected resources based on the relative costs and benefits in the landscape. Macaques consumed naturally occurring resources throughout the study, but when anthropogenic resources were available, macaques preferentially selected them over natural foods. However, increased risk due to human deterrence associated with a resource consistently reduced its use for as long as the risk persisted. From a management perspective, these insights suggest that reducing the use of the natural resources by humans can help attract macaques to the forest but only if combined with wardens to guard the crops.

In the context of increasing anthropogenic disturbance and habitat loss, understanding how communities respond after disturbance is crucial. Although quarrying degrades habitats, the post-exploitation phase may provide opportunities for ecological rehabilitation and inform on community dynamics. We analyzed biodiversity data from a long-term monitoring program conducted in 38 quarries in northern France, covering a gradient from pre-exploitation conditions to 30 years after exploitation. Three taxonomic groups were studied: birds, bats, and butterflies. Species-specific abundance and community-level indicators-species richness, evenness, a Community Specialization Index, and species composition-were analyzed. Two complementary approaches were used: a categorical analysis of quarry life-cycle stages and an analysis of temporal trajectories distinguishing short-term (0-10 years) from long-term (>10 years). No major decline in community indices was observed during the exploitation stage, likely reflecting the low biodiversity of the surrounding landscape. After the exploitation, taxon-specific responses emerged: birds and butterflies showed positive responses during early rehabilitation stages, whereas bats responded positively at later stages. We identified contrasting colonization patterns, with some species showing abundance peaks at specific stages of the quarry life cycle, while other species showed no variation. We revealed no direct effect of time during the short-term period. In contrast, after 10 years, time had a significant direct effect, suggesting an increasing role of biotic interactions in community dynamics. Overall, differences in colonization capacity and habitat affinity among taxa highlight the importance of long-term, multi-taxon monitoring and the need to integrate both short- and long-term objectives into quarry rehabilitation strategies.

Agricultural intensification, landscape simplification, and climate change threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services in arable lands. Increasing semi-natural habitats and landscape heterogeneity can mitigate these impacts by providing diverse habitats, resources and modifying climate at the landscape scale. As effective natural enemies in arable lands, carabids play a key role in pest and weed seed regulation and are influenced by field management and landscape. This study hypothesized that field management directly influences carabid communities and weed seed predation, while landscape factors affect them directly and indirectly through air temperature at the landscape scale. We sampled 77 winter cereal fields across 20 landscape windows representing regional landscape heterogeneity and composition. We monitored air temperature, carabid communities, and weed seed predation during two sampling sessions in late spring and early summer 2023. Piecewise Structural Equation Models were built to test for the direct and indirect effects of field-scale factors, landscape and climate at the landscape scale on carabids and weed seed predation. For both sampling sessions, results showed that the amount of semi-natural habitats and landscape heterogeneity primarily influence carabid activity-density and composition, which in turn affect weed seed predation. Grasslands, by providing resources and refuges, favour carabids but also appear linked to higher maximum air temperature, possibly influencing carabid composition via thermotolerance traits. The study highlights the importance of semi-natural habitats and landscape heterogeneity in shaping carabid communities and their ecosystem services in arable fields. Furthermore, for the first time, we have highlighted the potential influence of landscape context on carabids mediated by air temperature, which may affect weed regulation services through seed predation.

Summary Understanding the drivers of assemblages of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is essential to leverage the benefits of AMF for plant growth and health. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are heterogeneously distributed in space even at small scale. We review the role of plant distribution in driving AMF assemblages (the passenger hypothesis), using a transposition of the conceptual framework of landscape ecology. Because rooting systems correspond to habitat patches with limited carrying capacity that differ in quality due to host‐preference effects, we suggest considering plant communities as mosaics of AMF microhabitats. We review how predictions from landscape ecology apply to plant community effects on AMF, and the existing evidence that tests these predictions. Although many studies have been conducted on the effect of plant compositional heterogeneity on AMF assemblages, they mostly focused on the effect of plant richness, while only a few investigated the effect of configurational heterogeneity, plant connectivity or plant community temporal dynamics. We propose key predictions and future prospects to fill these gaps. Considering plant communities as landscapes extends the passenger hypothesis by including a spatially explicit dimension and its associated ecological processes and may help understand and manipulate AMF assemblages at small spatial scales.

Bocage landscapes are characterized by a network of hedgerows that delimits arable fields. Such landscapes provide many ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation, but their effects on weed communities remain largely unknown. Bocage landscapes could affect weed communities through two main processes: plant spillover from hedgerows and increased environmental heterogeneity in arable fields. These bocage effects are also likely to vary between farming systems (conventional vs. organic) due to differences in management practices. We sampled weed communities more than 20 m from field margins in 74 arable fields (37 per farming system). Fields were located along two independent landscape gradients of total length of hedgerows (with or without a shrub layer) and organic farming cover, in Brittany (France). We analysed the effect of 'bocage' (i.e. the density and complexity of hedgerow networks) and farming systems at field and landscape scales on species and functional diversity of weed communities. Further, we used fidelity to non-crop habitats and Ellenberg indicator values to assess the 'plant spillover' and 'environmental heterogeneity' hypotheses, respectively. Weed communities were more diverse and more abundant in organic farming systems. In addition, weed communities were more diverse, but not more abundant, in denser and more complex bocage landscapes. 'Bocage' increased species diversity of weeds, but also community-weighted variance of specific leaf area, plant height and seed mass. Positive effects of 'bocage' on weed diversity were driven by increased environmental heterogeneity rather than spillover of transient species from hedgerows. 'Bocage' effects were independent of farming systems at field and landscape scales. Synthesis and applications. Maintaining diverse weed communities is key to agroecological weed management and biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. Farmers are often concerned that hedgerows harbour competitive plants spreading into field edges, thereby increasing weed pressure. However, our study shows that dense and complex bocage landscapes promote weed diversity in field cores, most likely by increasing environmental heterogeneity. Thus, bocage landscapes could actually enhance ecosystem services provided by weed communities and reduce weed-crop competition.

Agriculture intensification led to the gradual destruction of semi-natural habitats and landscape simplification in the North-Western Europe. All these profound changes affected plant assemblages, especially in semi-natural ecosystems such as grasslands. They could have negative effects on the plant diversity and the related ecosystem functions, such as primary productivity. At the landscape scale this biodiversity-productivity relationship still have to be tested in real-world systems. It could have important economic implications concerning fodder production. We used a large-scale sampling design (30 landscape windows - 1 x1 km) to quantify landscape structure variables (semi-natural habitat amounts and landscape heterogeneity), grassland plant taxonomic diversity and functional diversity calculated from multidimensional functional spaces (functional richness, evenness, dispersion), and grassland productivity (mean, temporal stability, spatial variability) derived from satellite image time-series. Taxonomic dissimilarity, functional evenness and functional dispersion of grassland plant assemblages were related to semi-natural habitat amount. Functional evenness and dispersion decreased with grassland amount whereas taxonomic dissimilarity and functional evenness increased with hedgerow amount. Only taxonomic and functional richness depended on landscape heterogeneity, and with a positive relationship. Grassland plant assemblages with a higher functional evenness presented a higher and more stable mean productivity. In addition to the direct effect of landscape heterogeneity on plant productivity, we demonstrated plant trait-mediated effect of landscape structure on mean and temporal stability of grassland productivity at the landscape scale. Landscape management, especially through the conservation of hedgerows can help maintain high and resilient production of fodder in the future as a result of their positive effects on plant functional diversity.

In ever‐changing landscapes, there is increasing evidence that current plant assemblages are shaped by the temporal dynamics of landscape connectivity. So far, attempts to take the temporal dynamics of connectivity into account have only focused on the degree of connectivity at one or several moments in time, but neglected the cumulative effects of temporal changes in connectivity. We investigated the effects of the temporal dynamics of landscape connectivity (i.e. the degree of connectivity, the magnitude and the variability of its temporal changes) over the last seven decades on current woodland plant herbaceous assemblages. The assemblages were described using a taxonomic approach combined with a functional approach based on four traits linked to the colonisation capacity of plant species. The taxonomic diversity of current woodland assemblages did not respond to the degree of connectivity nor to the magnitude and the variability of temporal changes, but the mean and/or the diversity of trait values linked to their colonisation capacity did. Responses, mainly driven by generalist species, were modulated by the type of connectivity trend experienced by woodlands. In woodlands experiencing an upward connectivity trend, high magnitude of temporal changes in connectivity increased the abundance of species that invest mostly in sexual reproduction at the expense of vegetative reproduction whereas the degree of connectivity and the variability of its temporal changes had no effect. In woodlands experiencing a downward connectivity trend, the diversity of seed mass values was independent on the magnitude but decreased with the variability of temporal changes, and increased with the degree of connectivity. Synthesis . Overall, we show that, besides the degree of connectivity, the cumulative effects of decades of changes in connectivity shape woodland plant community assembly by selecting for particular trait values in plant species. This study opens new perspectives for integrating the temporal dynamics of landscape connectivity in the theoretical framework of plant assembly rules. It should also be considered in the development of management strategies to restore and maintain landscape connectivity.

Hedgerows are semi-natural wooded habitats and an important element in agricultural landscapes across Western and North-Western Europe. They reduce erosion, function as carbon sinks and thus provide essential ecosystem services. Moreover, they form a structurally diverse ecosystem for numerous taxa and connect otherwise fragmented forest habitats. This study compiled data from the hedgerow-rich oceanic regions of Europe, covering a gradient from Southern Sweden to Northern France, to analyse the influence of management, landscape context and climate variables on the number of herbaceous forest specialists in hedgerows. The species frequencies in hedgerows were related to their functional traits to identify plant characteristics that are beneficial for species dispersal and persistence in hedgerows. Our results show that numerous forest plant species, but not all, can thrive in hedgerows. Those are likely thermophilic, tolerant against regular disturbance and able to disperse efficiently. Hedgerows in regions that are warm or that are impacted by heat and drought events contain fewer forest species. Intensive adjacent land-use had a negative impact on forest species richness, while the surrounding forest cover was not significantly important. In congruence with previous regional studies, wider hedgerows contain more forest species, which is most likely caused by a more effective buffering of the microclimate. Thus, hedgerow width gains in importance in times of climate change and increasing extreme weather events. It is a key factor for habitat quality also on a European scale that needs to be considered for future management strategies.

Question Habitat isolation is a major driver of biodiversity because it affects dispersal among local communities, especially for plants. Corridors are supposed to facilitate the movement of organisms and hence their effective dispersal, thereby increasing biodiversity. Hedgerows provide favorable habitats for forest plant establishment, but their role in dispersal among forest patches is still unknown. In addition, seeds can be more predated within hedgerows because animal movement is also encouraged by these corridors. We aimed to answer the question: Are plant dispersal and seed removal by animals in connected hedgerows compared with unconnected hedgerows promoted for forest plant species? Location Long-term ecological site "Zone Atelier Armorique", western France (ca. 150 km(2)). Methods We analyzed seed dispersal along two pathways in 16 woodlots: connected (least-cost pathways, i.e., optimal corridors); and unconnected high cost pathways (absence of corridor). Using a trap study, we first quantified seed rain and analyzed seed composition after trapped seeds were germinated in the greenhouse. At the same sampling points, we then analyzed the rate at which two different sized seeds were removed from seed baits by animals. Results Our results revealed no difference in the number of trapped seeds in connected and unconnected pathways, but did reveal a difference in the number and richness of viable seeds, with corridors having a positive impact. In the predation experiment, the rate of removal of small seeds was higher in connected pathways than in unconnected pathways. Conclusion Connectivity enhanced the dispersal of viable forest plant species but also the predation of small seeds, which possibly played a role in their subsequent dispersal. This work highlighted the effect of connectivity on seed dynamics within hedgerows and improves our understanding of the role of hedgerows as stepping-stones for seed dispersal among forest patches.

While studies have explored how habitat amount drives weed assemblages in agroecosystems, knowledge remains limited of the effects of habitat connectivity. The response-effect trait framework provides insights into the mechanisms underpinning the relationship between landscape structure and the taxonomic diversity and abundance of weed assemblages. This study evaluated how habitat connectivity and habitat amount affect weed diversity and abundance in winter cereal fields, and whether these effects are driven by the functional composition of weed assemblages. We sampled weeds in 27 winter cereal fields. We measured habitat connectivity and habitat amount provided by wooded, grassland and cropland elements. We selected five traits related to the dispersal, establishment, and competitive abilities of weed species likely to respond to landscape structure: seed number per plant, type of reproduction, seed dry mass, plant vegetative height and seed germination rate. The functional composition of weed assemblages was assessed using community weighted mean trait values. Weed diversity and abundance were used as proxies of weed management. The taxonomic approach did not reveal any effect of landscape structure on weed diversity and abundance. Only the grassland elements that contributed to habitat connectivity, and to a lesser extent to habitat amount, drove the functional composition of weed assemblages. High habitat amount favoured species with many seeds, while high habitat connectivity favoured species with fewer seeds, a higher ability to reproduce vegetatively and higher seed germination rates. In turn, higher seed germination rates increased weed evenness and reduced weed abundance. Some of these relationships were influenced by the presence of rare species. Overall, high connectivity provided by grassland elements increases weed evenness and reduces weed abundance by shaping weed functional composition. Our study suggests that land-use planning policies that enhance the connectivity provided by grassland elements could be considered as a weed management strategy reconciling ecology and agronomy.

Hedgerow_matrix: occurrence rate of hedgerow species within landscape window (i.e. the proportion of hedgerows in which a given species was present) Grassland_matrix: occurrence rate of grassland species within landscape window (i.e. the proportion of grassland parcels in which a given species was present) Landscape_matrix: landscape variables (grassland percentage, hedgerow percentage, compositional heterogeneity, configurational heterogeneity) for the 30 landscape windows Traits_matrix: species trait values matrix for each continuous trait considered [onsetof flowering (onset), Flowering duration (duration), seed mass (mass), Height (height), SLA (SLA) and seed germination rates (germination)] following a MICE procedure to estimate missing continuous trait values. Functional_diversity_grasslands: functional diversity metrics (functional richness (Frich), functional evenness (Feve, functional dispersion (Fdis) for each grassland assemblage Functional_diversity_hedgerows: functional diversity metrics (functional richness (Frich), functional evenness (Feve, functional dispersion (Fdis) for each hedgerow assemblage

Landscape structure is a major driver of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the response of biodiversity can be delayed after landscape changes. This study aimed to determine the effect of current and past landscape structure on plant and bird assemblages. We used a trait-based approach to understand their responses to landscape simplification and habitat fragmentation. We quantified landscape structure at three different years (1963, 1985, 2000) and sampled current plant and bird assemblages in twenty 1 km 2 landscape windows located along the Seine Valley (France). For each window, we calculated plant and bird species richness, Community Weighted Variance (CWV), and Community Weighted Mean (CWM) of five functional traits related to dispersal capacity, reproduction, and life-cycle. We detected non-random patterns of traits for both taxa. Plant and bird species richness was lower in simple landscapes. The functional variance of plant traits was higher in landscapes simple in configuration. Both plant and bird assemblages strongly responded to past landscapes, especially their traits related to reproduction and life-cycle. It suggests that landscapes of the Seine valley will face a functional extinction debt. Further research is needed to better predict the delayed response of biodiversity expected to occur after landscape structure changes.

One of the major planning tools to respond to urban landscape fragmentation is the development of ecological corridors, that is, interconnected networks of urban green and blue spaces. Least-cost paths (LCP) appear to be an easy and appropriate resistance-based modelling method to respond to urban planners' needs. However, the ecological validation of urban corridors using LCP is rarely performed and needs to be generalized to different species, habitats and cities. We developed an experimental design to test the efficiency of LCP predictions to detect highly connecting landscape contexts that facilitate individual movements compared to movements in less connecting landscape contexts. We deliberately assigned LCP analysis parameters based on the scientific literature and expert knowledge to test a method potentially easy to use for urban stakeholders. To extend the validation, we applied our LCP model to two biological taxa with different habitat requirements: grassland-dwelling moths and forest-dwelling passerines, and to two medium-sized cities. We used mark-release-recapture (MRR) methods for moths and playback recall protocols for passerines to compare the patterns of individual movement between two contrasted connectivity contexts determined by the presence and absence of modelled LCPs. MRR protocol estimated movement rates between herbaceous patches and the two contrasted connectivity contexts. Playback recall protocol consisted in attracting individuals from wooded patches to the two contrasted connectivity contexts. A movement was considered facilitated, when displacement was rapidly engaged and individuals moved a long distance from their wooded patch. Moth and passerine movement patterns differed between the two connectivity contexts: moth recapture rates were higher in highly connecting contexts than in less connecting contexts. For passerine birds, responses to playback recalls were faster and movement distance longer in highly connecting contexts. All results support the hypothesis that both taxa were more prone to move in corridors modelled by LCP. Synthesis and applications. The convergence of the results for different biological models and across cities strengthens the relevance of LCP analysis for planning urban greenways and provides guidelines for landscape planners in the development of these corridors to favour the movement and survival of multiple urban species.

Landscape connectivity plays a key role in determining the persistence of species inhabiting fragmented habitat patches. In dynamic landscapes, most studies measure connectivity at multiple time steps, but pay less attention to explicitly quantifying its temporal dynamics to gain insights into its role in biodiversity patterns, thereby enabling more effective operational outcomes. This article aimed at making an overview of the existing methods for the assessment of the temporal dynamics of connectivity. By analysing their differences and possible applications, we aimed to highlight knowledge gap and future research directions. We conducted a systematic review of literature dealing with the assessment of the temporal dynamics of connectivity and obtained 32 studies. We presented two main approaches based on graph theory and compared them from conceptual and operational perspectives. The first widely used approach, accounting only for the spatial dispersal of organisms, quantifies temporal changes in spatial connectivity. Based on two or multiple time steps in the time series, this approach enables assessment of the sense and magnitude of the temporal changes in spatial connectivity. The second recently developed approach quantifies spatio-temporal connectivity, thus accounting for both spatial and temporal dispersal. So far, this holistic assessment of spatio-temporal connectivity only covers two time steps. Existing methods for the assessment of the temporal dynamics of connectivity provide indicators to advance our understanding of biodiversity patterns, and to be able to implement measures to conserve and restore connectivity. We propose future directions to develop these methods.

In forest-specialist mammals, forest loss may induce resistance to animal movement and reduce gene flow between populations, and thereby increase genetic erosion and extinction risks for populations. Understanding how landscape features affect gene flow is of critical importance for conservation. Using landscape genetic tools at multiple spatial scales, we assessed the effects of landscape heterogeneity (in particular the presence of wide open or rural habitats) on gene flow in an endangered forest-specialist species - the Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) -, in its major forest site in Morocco. We genotyped 248 individuals from 23 macaque groups using 11 microsatellite loci. We modelled different scenarios of isolation by landscape resistance. We further tested the relationships between genetic distance and isolation by resistance, after controlling for the effect of isolation by distance. Our results revealed a significant genetic structure and a disruption of gene flow even in geographic proximity. Whatever the spatial scale, remoteness from the forest edge beyond 1 km acted as a barrier to macaque movements. In addition, at a fine scale, human-dominated areas were also detected as a barrier. The detection of private alleles in each population suggests an ongoing process of isolation. The preservation of the Barbary macaque implies 1) strictly avoiding all silvicultural practices (in particular clear-cutting of holm oak forests) that could contribute to increase distances between forest patches, 2) restoring corridors between forests, 3) and preserving key small forest patches as potential stepping stones facilitating macaque dispersal.