Lutz Tischendorf

Independent Researcher · ELUTIS Modelling and Consulting Inc.

Banks-Leite et al. (2021) claim that our suggestion of preserving ≥40% forest cover lacks evidence and can be problematic. We find these claims unfounded, and discuss why conservation planning urgently requires valuable, well-supported, and feasible general guidelines like the 40% criterion. Using region-specific thresholds worldwide is unfeasible...

Banks-Leite et al. (2021) claim that our suggestion of preserving ≥40% forest cover lacks evidence and can be problematic. We find these claims unfounded, and discuss why conservation planning urgently requires valuable, well-supported, and feasible general guidelines like the 40% criterion. Using region-specific thresholds worldwide is unfeasible...

Agriculture and development transform forest ecosystems to human-modified landscapes. Decades of research in ecology have generated myriad concepts for the appropriate management of these landscapes. Yet, these concepts are often contradictory and apply at different spatial scales, making the design of biodiversity-friendly landscapes challenging....

Significance Agricultural landscape homogenization is a major ongoing threat to biodiversity and the delivery of key ecosystem services for human well-being. It is well known that increasing the amount of seminatural cover in agricultural landscapes has a positive effect on biodiversity. However, little is known about the role of the crop mosaic it...

Human activities exert stress on and create disturbances to ecosystems, decreasing their diversity, resilience and ultimately the health of ecosystems and their vegetation. In environments with rapid changes in vegetation health (VH), progress is needed when it comes to monitoring these changes and underlying causes. There are different approaches...

Aim Species distribution models ( SDM s) coupled with metapopulation dynamics models can integrate multiple threats and population‐level processes that influence species distributions. However, multiple sources of uncertainties could lead to substantial differences in model outputs and jeopardize risk assessments. We evaluate uncertainties in coupl...

We conducted a factorial simulation experiment to analyze the relative importance of movement pattern, boundary-crossing probability, and mortality in habitat and matrix on population density, and its dependency on habitat fragmentation, as well as inter-patch distance. We also examined how the initial response of a species to a fragmentation event...

1) In Canada, activities that might affect species which are listed under the federal Species at Risk Act require a permit. These permits are only issued, if the activity does not jeopardize the survival or recovery of a listed species. But the impact of human activities on populations in the wild are notoriously difficult to assess. 2) Simple BBN...

We conducted an experimental landscape study to test the hypotheses that: (1) habitat removal results in short-term increases in population density in the remaining habitat patches (the crowding effect); (2) following habitat removal, density is higher in landscapes with more, smaller patches and more habitat edge (i.e., a higher level of habitat f...

This paper reports on a series of pilot studies to produce and promote robust, state-of-the-art methods for delineating critical habitat as required under the new Species At Risk Act (SARA) in Canada. Five endangered species (Banff springs snail, Whooping Crane, BC population of the Yellow-breasted Chat, Prothonotary Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher) an...

Habitat isolation can affect the distribution and abundance of wildlife, but it is an ambiguous attribute to measure. Presumably, isolation is a characteristic of a habitat patch that reflects how spatially inaccessible it is to dispersing organisms. We identified four isolation metrics (nearest-neighbor distance, Voronoi polygons, proximity index,...

We examined the effects of matrix structure and movement responses of organisms on the relationships between 7 patch isolation metrics and patch immigration. Our analysis was based on simulating movement behaviour of two generic disperser types (specialist and generalist) across mosaic landscapes containing three landcover types: habitat, hospitabl...

Five commonly used modelling tools for conducting population viability analyses (PVA) have been reviewed and compared. A comprehensive internet and literature review revealed RAMAS® GIS, VORTEX, ALEX and META-X as state-of-the-art metapopulation simulators. PATCH represents a widely acknowledged, individual-based and spatially explicit population s...

The Acadian Flycatcher was designated as "Endangered" Species in 2000 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The species at risk act (SARA) prescribes identification and protection of critical habitat for this species. This work contributes to and supplements related recovery and conservation efforts. A comprehen...

Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The species at risk act (SARA) prescribes identification and protection of critical habitat for this species. This work contributes to and supplements related recovery and conservation efforts. A comprehensive population and habitat viability analysis has been conducted for the Hooded Warbler in the Carolini...

These figures show the overlay of potential, occupied and "critical" habitat for three bird species of conservation concern in southern Ontario based on habitat identification and mapping (Flaxman & Freemark 2003) and PVA modelling (Tischendorf & Freemark 2003).

The ecological interpretation of landscape patterns is one of the major objectives in landscape ecology. Both landscape patterns and ecological processes need to be quantified before statistical relationships between these variables can be examined. Landscape indices provide quantitative information about landscape pattern. Response variables or pr...

The methods for measuring landscape connectivity have never been compared or tested for their responses to habitat fragmentation. We simulated movement, mortality and boundary reactions across a wide range of landscape structures to analyze the response of landscape connectivity measures to habitat fragmentation. Landscape connectivity was measured...

This paper examines the usage and measurement of “landscape connectivity” in 33 recent studies. Connectivity is defined as the degree to which a landscape facilitates or impedes movement of organisms among resource patches. However, connectivity is actually used in a variety of ways in the literature. This has led to confusion and lack of clarity r...

We used a simulation model to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of a potential rabies outbreak in an immunized fox population after the termination of a long-term, large-scale vaccination program with two campaigns per year one in spring and one in autumn. The ‘worst-case’ scenario of rabies resurgence occurs if rabies has persisted at a low preva...

A major problem in ecological modelling is finding the appropriate level of resolution when describing the processes and structures of ecological systems. When modelling basic ecological questions, as a rule the best approach is to ignore as much detail as possible in order to obtain general insights. However, for applied problems focusing in parti...

The large-scale immunization of European fox populations against rabies is currently under the microscope for reducing the considerable expenditure without putting public health at risk. Empirical knowledge is inadequate to interpret the lasting sporadic incidences and, therefore, to verify the final success of the immunization campaigns. By using...

Understanding the response of organisms to heterogeneous, mosaic-like landscapes is of key importance for landscape ecology, especially for predicting the consequences of the impacts of landscape patterns on the spatial distribution of species. It is of current interest whether simulation models can carry out the necessary transformation between fi...

With the assistance of a computer simulation model changed rabies spreading in immunised fox populations is examined. The influence of long-time and large-scale vaccination on the virus-host-system is analysed and new effects and their causes are shown. Rabies can persist for many years despite continuous vaccination with high immunisation rates. B...

This paper deals with modelling methods for spatially explicit simulations of animal movements in heterogeneous landscapes. Within this context technical and methodical limitations of grid-based models are discussed followed by examining the sparse use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Then a new approach is presented which is distinguishe...

With the assistance of a computer simulation model changed rabies spreading in immunised fox populations is examined. The influence of long-time and large-scale vaccination on the virus-host-system is analysed and new effects and their causes are shown. Rabies can persist for many years despite continuous vaccination with high immunisation rates. B...

Corridors are supposed to facilitate and conduct moving individuals between habitat remnants within an otherwise inhospitable landscape. Despite the scientific interest in corridors, their function as conduits is open to question. In this paper we present hypothetical answers to this question based on simulations of individual movements through cor...

Rabies in the red fox populations of Germany is not yet eradicated by means of vaccination. Lasting incidences are difficult to explain while a reformation of the current disease control is under discussion for economical but also for ecological reasons. Our simulation outcome suggests low-level persistence associated with spatio-temporal moving in...