Calopteryx Damselfly Dispersions Arising from Multiscale Responses to Landscape Structure

Abstract

Using spatially explicit simulation models, we explored the extent to which fine-scale (i.e., meters to tens of meters) movement behaviors could be used to predict broader scale patterns of distribution on heterogeneous landscapes. Our models were tailored by empirical data on Calopterygid damselfly movements on three types of landscapes that differed in amount of forest habitat. Surveys of the two congeneric damselflies, Calopteryx aequabilis and Calopteryx maculata, demonstrated that both species occupied stream and forest habitats on forested and partially forested landscapes, but were found primarily along streams on nonforested landscapes. Simulation models whose parameters were derived using empirical movement data for both species showed that fine-scale movement behaviors could be used to predict, on average, broader scale dispersion across a range of landscape structures, but that it was necessary to include information about broader scale landscape features in those models. In particular, the probability of crossing a patch boundary (patch boundary permeability) and the rate of movement in a given habitat patch (patch viscosity) were important determinants of damselfly dispersion on heterogeneous landscapes. In other words, our results suggest that damselfly dispersions may arise as a function of behavioral responses to spatial patterns at multiple scales.

Keywords

• <i>Calopteryx aequabilis</i>
• <i>Calopteryx maculata</i>
• connectivity
• damselflies
• landscape structure
• movement behaviors
• multiscale dispersion
• patch boundary permeability
• patch viscosity
• simulation model
• spatial scale