Dr. Josef Senn

Seed dispersal plays a pivotal role in plant ecology, impacting various aspects such as dispersal, reproduction, and population dynamics. In this study, we investigated the endozoochoric seed dispersal by the onager or Persian wild ass (Equus hemionus onager) in Qatrouiyeh National Park, located in south-central Iran. Fecal samples were collected from three plains within the park over three seed production seasons. A subsequent greenhouse experiment was conducted to identify and quantify the germinated seedlings. We discovered a total of 63 plant species across 45 genera and 21 families, with the majority of species categorized as annual or perennial forbs. Seasonal variations were observed for seedling count, species richness, and species diversity, with peak values observed during autumn. The seedlings consisted primarily of forbs (86%), followed by grasses (10%) and other plant types (4%). Astragalus podolobus, Lepidium vesicarium, and Chenopodium album emerged as the most abundant species from the fecal samples. Our findings shed light on the critical role played by the onager in the dispersal of numerous plant species and emphasized the potential cascading effects of herbivore-mediated seed dispersal. This highlights the significance of conserving and restoring the remaining populations of this threatened subspecies in arid habitats, where seed dispersal by abiotic factors is limited.

Brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) in Kurdistan Province of Iran is considered as a regionally threatened species. Therefore, understanding spatial distribution of brown bear and influencing factors is fundamental to their conservation. In this study, occurrence records of brown bear coupled with environmental and habitat data were compiled, and suitable habitats of this species was predicted through five species distribution models (SDMs) including Random Forest (RF), Classification Tree Analysis (CTA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt), as well as an ensemble approach. To evaluate each model’s predictive performance, area under the curve (AUC) and true skill statistic (TSS) were measured. All models showed AUC values higher than 0.9 under scenario I, indicating excellent overall prediction accuracy. The accuracy statistics derived by the ensemble maps were higher than those derived by single SDMs. Among the single models, GLM and MaxEnt scored the highest partial AUC values under both scenarios. Temperature seasonality, isothermality, precipitation of the driest month, and distance to village were recognized as the most effective variables in predicting suitable habitats for brown bear. Our findings demonstrated the usefulness of the ensemble approach and the high accuracy of GLM and MaxEnt in the species distribution modelling.

Large herbivores can influence the population dynamics of their forage plants. Feeding means a disturbance for the affected plants. Although in most cases herbivores consume only a relatively small fraction of the total phytomass, they influence the intra- and interspecific competition between plants. Whether and to what extent herbivores influence the forest–open land distribution has been subject of controversial discussion. Today, species diversity and population density of large herbivores in the temperate zone are lower than they were at the end of the last Ice Age. Therefore, stronger and more diverse influences of these species on the vegetation can be assumed before widespread human activity. This fact must be considered in the modern management of natural landscapes .

In the early 1800s, the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) was probably extirpated from Switzerland, due to overhunting and deforestation. After a federal law was enacted in 1875 to protect lactating females and young, and limiting the hunting season, the roe deer successfully recovered and recolonized Switzerland. In this study, we use mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA markers to investigate the recolonization and assess contemporary genetic structure in relation to broad topographic features, in order to understand underlying ecological processes, inform future roe deer management strategies, and explore the opportunity for development of forensic traceability tools. The results concerning the recolonization origin support natural, multidirectional immigration from neighboring countries. We further demonstrate that there is evidence of weak genetic differentiation within Switzerland among topographic regions. Finally, we conclude that the genetic data support the recognition of a single roe deer management unit within Switzerland, within which there is a potential for broad-scale geographic origin assignment using nuclear markers to support law enforcement.

Knowledge on habitat suitability of ecologically important species is central for their conservation management. The occurrence records of brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Kurdestan Province of Iran and environmental data were compiled to predict the ecological niche of this bear using Maxent species distribution algorithm. Satellite imagery of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 for 1990 and 2017 was also employed to investigate human-induced land degradation in the suitable habitats of the species. The images were pre-processed and classified into seven land use and land cover (LULC) classes using support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. According to Maxent model, about 9% of the study area could be regarded as highly suitable habitat, followed by moderately suitable habitat (11.6%) and marginally suitable habitat (29.3%). The integration of Maxent potential habitat map and LULC changes revealed that more than 6997 ha of the suitable habitats of the species have been degraded due to different human activities mainly related to the conversion of natural lands and Daryan Dam construction.

Aim: Central part of Iran harbours populations of wild ungulates that are threatened or extinct over large parts of the region, and are likely to be impacted by climate change. In this study, we predicted the impact of climate change on the distribution of three vulnerable ungulates in central Iran. We then evaluated future suitability of corridors connecting the protected areas for movement of the ungulates in response to climate change.
Location: Central Iran.
Methods: Impact of climate change on distribution of goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), wild sheep (Ovis spp) and wild goat (Capra aegagrus) was predicted adapting an ensemble modelling approach and under the RCP 8.5 emission scenario. We then used CIRCUITSCAPE software with current and future distribution maps to identify corridors for movement of the three ungulates, and evaluate likely changes in their suitability under climate change.
Results: Our results revealed that climate change might result in loss of 55%, 69% and 76% of suitable habitats for goitered gazelle, wild sheep and wild goat by 2070, respectively. These losses also resulted in some protected areas to become unsuitable for the ungulates. However, we identified key protected areas with the potential for future protection of these ungulates. For the three species, we also identified corridors which would persist into the future, allowing the impacted populations to move in response to climate change.
Main conclusions: Conservation of ungulate populations in Iran mainly depends on the protected areas. To maintain the role of the protected areas in conserving these mammals under climate change, we recommend the incorporation of their potential future distribution into conservation plans, increasing protection status of the key protected areas, and maintain critical corridors. In this regard, combining results of distribution and connectivity models provides useful information for effective management of these ungulates in the future.

Maintaining landscape connectivity through identifying movement corridors is the most recommended conservation strategy to reduce the negative impacts of habitat loss and isolation. The basis of most connectivity modelling approaches for modelling corridors is that species choose movement pathways based on the same criteria they used to choose habitats. However, species behave differently in using landscape elements for moving than for selecting habitat. In other words, suitability of a given landscape feature may differ between moving and habitat use stages. In this study, we evaluated how the availability of migration occurrence points for wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) could affect the outputs of distribution models and consequently the strength and extent of landscape connectivity for migratory movements of this species in central Iran. We employed concepts of Maximum entropy and circuit theory and developed 2 groups of habitat suitability and connectivity models with and without migration data. Comparing the results of the developed models showed that the main differences in the outputs of MaxEnt models were associated with suitability values predicted for the unprotected migration habitats. Without migration occurrence points, MaxEnt did not identify the traditionally used migration habitats. In contrast, Circuitscape represented a similar performance in predicting the main migration corridor of the species when using or not using the migration occurrence data. These differences could be associated with wild sheep’s different behavior in the selection of habitat during movement and home range stages. Owning to this difference, we suggest using migration data in modelling landscape connectivity as these data may include different environmental conditions to those collected from home range habitats. For wild sheep, we recommend protecting the migration corridor at least during migration time. Maintaining such connectivity would also largely depend on managing the unprotected matrix through preventing expansion of human land uses in the vicinity of the corridor and buffering it to some distance.

Noise is a spatially extensive pollutant with recognized impacts on habitats and wildlife species. Expansion of roads into protected areas and wild places is contemplated as a major source of noise pollution whose measurement can shed light on the impacts of road traffic noise pollution on habitats and species. In this research, the SPreAD-GIS was employed to model road traffic noise propagation in Mouteh Wildlife Refuge, central Iran, independently for cold (winter and autumn) and warm (summer and spring) seasons. The MaxEnt model was also used to characterize the potential suitability of habitat for Persian gazelle. Finally, the noise-affected habitats were identified using the overlay method. According to the results, 53,461 ha of the wildlife refuge was characterized as highly suitable habitats, of which noise-affected areas accounted for 1522 ha (283 ha with a high noise level) during the cold seasons and 1159.8 ha (246 ha with a high noise level) during the warm seasons of the year. Field surveys showed that most populations responded to noise pollution by preserving distance from high-level noise (40 dB <) regions, indicating that high-level noise-affected habitats of Persian gazelle have been functionally lost. This study indicated that the identification of the affected habitats and populations through modeling can be an appropriate and cost-effective means to determine the primary species response to traffic noise and minimize its adverse impacts for sustainably managing wildlife populations.

Wilderness is very subjective and opinions on wilderness vary greatly. Here we consider wilderness as areas without any notable infrastructure and with little human influence, where nature can develop freely and natural processes are not disturbed. Wilderness is vitally important, yet it continues to decline on a global scale.
Pressure on wilderness is increasing: Infrastructure for tourism and energy production in particular is a major threat to the last remaining pristine, untouched areas in Switzerland. Wilderness is not specifically protected in Switzerland; however, some valleys contain areas with the potential to return to wilderness following abandonment and discontinued land-use. The goal of this study was to identify areas of high wilderness quality in Switzerland. Additionally, the local population's arguments for and against wilderness and views of experts in Cantons with high wilderness potential were explored.
Interviews with the local population of Maderanertal show a close bond between inhabitants and their natural environment, affecting their attitude towards wilderness. The interviews show seven different lines of argumentation regarding the free, undisturbed development of nature. Wilderness was often not understood to exclude human land and resource use. Most cantonal experts share the opinion that there is a need for untouched areas in Switzerland. However, when referring to their «own» Canton, this opinion is far less distinct.
Wilderness quality in Switzerland was quantified using four geographically measurable criteria (naturalness, human influence, remoteness and ruggedness) which were combined to form a wilderness quality map. The potential for future wilderness development was approximated using a value of «extensification» to identify areas of successively less intensive land-use. Around 17 percent of Switzerland's landmass was identified to have high wilderness quality. These areas are mostly located in high alpine and glacial regions. Areas with high wilderness development potential, following land-use extensification over several decades were mainly concentrated in the Alps and the foothills of the Alps.
The ecological potential for wilderness in the Alps is high; the attitude of the local population towards the free development of nature, however, is often sceptical. Wilderness has a chance, where both the ecological potential (wilderness quality and extensification) and the societal potential (acceptance, legal and political bases) overlap. Broad awareness of the value of wilderness, alongside the inclusion and active participation of the local population are crucial to achieve long-term wilderness protection in Switzerland. Areas of high wilderness quality and wilderness development potential need to be preserved. Protection measures which enable natural processes to develop freely e.g. forest reserves, should be extended to conserve these valuable areas.

Wilderness is vitally important: ecologically, economically, socially and culturally, yet it continues to decline globally. Despite high human modification and fragmentation in European landscapes, studies assessing wilderness in Europe suggest the presence of substantial areas of wilderness in mountainous areas. Following a European resolution, the importance of remaining wilderness areas has recently been recognised and efforts towards mapping and protecting remaining wildernesses have increased.
The central Alps lie within Switzerland and have been identified in multiple studies as a potential wilderness hotspot in Europe. In this study we develop robust, objective indicators to quantify wilderness and apply them to Switzerland. The indicators account for varying perceptions of wilderness and were evaluated by experts. Assessing international expert opinion to define indicator weightings has not been carried out in similar studies in the past, but serves as a transparent, objective and reproducible approach.
The indicators identified high quality wilderness areas, mostly at higher elevations, and demonstrate a suitable method for assessing remaining wilderness areas in landscapes subjected to large modifications by human activities. The spatial distribution of wilderness in the case study region Switzerland suggest that it may play an important role in wilderness conservation in Europe. Our study provides essential baseline information for wilderness monitoring, planning and protection, upon which future studies can build. Above this it provides robust, objective and adaptable indicators for wilderness quantification, which can be implemented in other countries and across various spatial scales. The method can be adapted for other countries – through the use of local expert opinions to weight indicators, and regions – with the inclusion of further datasets.

Große Herbivoren können die Populationsdynamik ihrer Futterpflanzen beeinflussen. Fraß bedeutet für die betroffenen Pflanzen eine Störung. Obwohl Herbivoren in den meisten Fällen nur einen relativ kleinen Anteil der gesamten Phytomasse konsumieren, beeinflussen sie die intra- und interspezifischen Konkurrenzverhältnisse der Pflanzenpopulationen. Ob und in welchem Umfang Pflanzenfresser die Wald-0ffenland-Verteilung verändern, ist Gegenstand kontroverser Diskussionen. Artenvielfalt und Populationsdichte von Großherbivoren waren in den ursprünglichen, von Menschen unbeeinflussten Landschaften der temperaten Zone höher als heute. Deswegen kann von einem ehemals stärkeren Einfluss dieser Arten auf die Vegetation ausgegangen werden. Diesem Umstand ist beim modernen Management von naturnahen Landschaften Rechnung zu tragen.

Natural habitats of Southeastern Iran are threatened by both natural and anthropogenic pressures such as long-term drought, dust storms, and land use change. Surveys on habitat suitability of vulnerable species and integration of protected areas have raised alarm over potential species extinction and geographical isolation of populations. Reducing the threats of human activities on sensitive terrestrial and coastal ecosystems requires integrated planning and management of terrestrial and coastal protected areas, however many of these areas have been selected and managed independently. Selecting coastal protected areas network require a systematic conservation planning approach, to reduce the development impacts on sensitive habitats. Therefore, this study aimed to identify an optimized integrative network of terrestrial and coastal protected areas in southeast Iran. An attempt was made to maximize biodiversity conservation, reduce the isolation of populations, and increase the resilience of the region's natural habitats to new development plans by including coastal habitats meeting the requirements of key species. Firstly, suitable habitats for seven key species were simulated by Species Distribution Models (SDMs) performed via Generalized Linear Model (GLM), Generalized Boosted Model (GBM), Random Forest (RF), and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) models fitted with 20 ecological and anthropogenic variables. A habitat suitability map was produced by integrating the SDM-derived habitat suitability maps with the suitable extents identified for egg-laying green sea turtle and potential habitat for aquatic and semi-aquatic birds. An attempt was then made for selecting new terrestrial and coastal protected areas using the simulated annealing algorithm under six scenarios. All SDMs exhibited promising performances in predicting the distribution of suitable habitats with AUC values of above 0.8 and the discrimination power of GBM and RF was higher than that of the other SDMs. In total, more than 34 percent of the study area, along the coastline, was categorized as sensitive or extremely sensitive habitat. An east-west habitat corridor presently unprotected playing an important role in connecting habitats needs to be safeguarded to maintain regional biodiversity. Moreover, our study revealed that the majority of suitable habitats with high potential for sensitive species are not currently protected by the existing protected area network.

1. Selective hunting can affect demographic characteristics and phenotypic traits of the targeted species. Hunting systems often involve harvesting quotas based on sex, age and/or size categories to avoid selective pressure. However, it is difficult to assess whether such regulations deter hunters from targeting larger "trophy" animals with longer horns that may have evolutionary consequences.
2. Here, we compile 44,088 annually resolved and absolutely dated measurements of Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) horn growth increments from 8,355 males, harvested between 1978 and 2013, in the eastern Swiss Canton of Grisons. We aim to determine whether male ibex with longer horns were preferentially targeted, causing animals with early rapid horn growth to have shorter lives, and whether such hunting selection translated into long-term trends in horn size over the past four decades.
3. Results show that medium- to longer-horned adult males had a higher probability of being harvested than shorter-horned individuals of the same age and that regulations do affect the hunters' behaviour. Nevertheless, phenotypic traits such as horn length, as well as body size and weight, remained stable over the study period.
4. Although selective trophy hunting still occurs, it did not cause a measurable evolutionary response in Grisons' Alpine ibex populations; managed and surveyed since 1978. Nevertheless, further research is needed to understand whether phenotypic trait development is coinfluenced by other, potentially compensatory factors that may possibly mask the effects of selective, long-term hunting pressure.

One of the most serious challenges facing biodiversity conservation is associated with the efficiency of protected areas for conserving biodiversity under future climate change. To address it, conservationists recommend shifting conservation planning from just focusing on protecting animal populations and their present habitat to including areas of high habitat heterogeneity. It is now well documented that range shifts of many species are occurring along altitudinal gradients. Thus, species in reserves extending over larger altitudinal gradients would have more opportunities for shifting their range toward higher altitudes. In this study, we evaluated the network of protected areas (PAs) in central Iran for their altitudinal heterogeneity. We then used a comparison index to quantify representativeness level of each altitudinal zone within the PAs. To detect if altitudinal heterogeneity may contribute in vulnerability of PAs to climate change, a climate change vulnerability assessment was performed using climate change velocity index. Our results demonstrated that the overall altitudinal heterogeneity within the PAs in central Iran is low. This was mainly attributed to the disproportionate size of the sites regarding topographic position. Among the altitudinal zones, only those at higher altitudes were well represented by the network suggesting a bias in the selection of protected sites toward higher altitudes. Altitudinal heterogeneity was found as a significant factor influencing vulnerability of the Iranian PAs to future climate change. In this regard, the sites most at risk were those distributed in east and across more topographically homogeneous landscapes. Thus, they are more urgently in need of taking actions for ameliorating the negative impacts of climate change. We suggest applying these assessments to other PAs to more completely plan for the efficiency of the Iranian PAs to future climate change.

One of the primary reason of species extinction especially rare species with very specific requirements, is habitat destruction. To protect these species, habitat suitability evaluation plays a central role. Hence, an attempt is made in this study to evaluate the suitability of sand cat’s habitat in a sand dune-dominated landscape in Iran. Four Landsat-derived indices including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Weighted Difference Vegetation Index, Brightness Index (BI) and Salinity Index were combined to characterize sand cat’s habitat requirements through a land use land cover (LULC) map. Furthermore, a set of landscape metrics were employed to explore the spatial pattern LULC classes. Sand cat’s habitat suitability map was generated by linear combination of the standardized and relatively weighted NDVI and BI indices and then categorized into five classes of most suitable, highly suitable, moderately suitable, least suitable and not suitable. The results showed that about 75% of the total area is suitable for sand cat. Although this region is rich in biodiversity, it has not yet been subject to any conservation planning and should be granted more conservation attentions.

Roads may act as barriers, negatively influencing the movement of animals, thereby causing disruption in landscapes. Roads cause habitat loss and fragmentation not only through their physical occupation, but also through traffic noise. The aim of this study is to provide a method to quantify the habitat degradation including habitat loss and fragmentation due to road traffic noise and to compare it with those of road land-take. Two types of fragmentation effects are determined: structural fragmentation (based on road land-take only), and functional fragmentation (noise effect zone fragmentation, buffer using a threshold of 40 dB). Noise propagation for roads with a traffic volume of more than 1000 vehicles per day was simulated by Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN) model. Habitat loss and fragmentation through land-take and noise effect zone were calculated and compared in Zagros Mountains in western Iran. The study area is characterized by three main habitat types (oak forest, scattered woodland and temperate grassland) which host endangered and protected wildlife species. Due to topographic conditions, land cover type, and the traffic volume in the region, the noise effect zone ranged from 50 to 2000 m which covers 18.3% (i.e. 516,929.95 ha) of the total study area. The results showed that the habitat loss due to noise effect zone is dramatically higher than that due to road land-take only (35% versus 1.04% of the total area). Temperate grasslands lost the highest proportion of the original area by both land-take and noise effect zone, but most area was lost in scattered woodland as compared to the other two habitat types. The results showed that considering the noise effect zone for habitat fragmentation resulted in an increase of 25.8% of the area affected (316,810 ha) as compared to using the land-take only (555,874 ha vs. 239,064 ha, respectively). The results revealed that the degree of habitat fragmentation is increasing by considering the noise effect zone. We conclude that, although the roads are breaking apart the patches by land-take, road noise not only dissects habitat patches but takes much larger proportions of or even functionally eliminates entire patches.

Traffic infrastructure such as fenced motorways may reduce functional connectivity by impeding the movement of wildlife and thus reduce gene flow across landscapes. This may result in increased genetic differentiation, eventually leading to decreasing genetic diversity in wildlife populations owing to genetic drift. Landscape managers and conservation agencies apply a range of measures to mitigate such adverse effects in intensively managed landscapes. Efficient measures to facilitate landscape permeability for wildlife include expert-assessed wildlife corridors. However, whether wildlife corridors are used as such and whether they fulfill their purpose remains largely unknown. Here, we evaluated whether the expert-based categorization of wildlife corridors into functional, impaired and interrupted held true in the Swiss Plateau by testing the landscape's permeability using genetic assessments. We identified the spatial genetic structure of roc deer (Capreolus capreolus) and tested, whether the estimated gene flow supported the expert categorization of wildlife corridors. Among the four study regions (ca. 300–2600 km²), pairwise genetic differentiation was rather low (F_ST ranging between 0.008 and 0.0264). However, wildlife corridors identified as intact on the basis of expert evaluation showed higher gene flow between populations of roe deer (mean F_ST = 0.008) than corridors classified as impaired or interrupted (mean F_ST = 0.022). Thus, expert judgement on the functionality of wildlife corridors could be generally confirmed by our genetic assessment on the permeability of landscapes for roe deer. This shows that genetic methods may constitute a useful set of tools to identify the state of management measures and to prioritize action plans for maintaining functional wildlife corridors across landscapes.

Rothirsche, Rehe und Gemsen verbeissen junge Bäume, das heisst, sie nutzen diese als Nahrung. Bäume sind den Huftieren jedoch nicht schutzlos ausgeliefert. Sie reagieren auf Verbiss und sind bis zu einem gewissen Grad daran angepasst. Die Huftiere andererseits wählen ihre Nahrungspflanzen sorgfältig aus. Eine der bevorzugten Futterpflanzen ist die Weisstanne. Da die Tanne ein integraler Bestandteil vieler Schutzwälder ist, stellt sich die Frage, ob Huftiere die Verjüngung der Tanne beeinflussen und ob sie langfristig das Überleben der Tanne und damit die Funktion der Schutzwälder in Frage stellen. In der Praxis wird versucht, dieses Risiko mittels Verbissaufnahmen abzuschätzen. Die verwendeten Methoden und Referenzwerte berücksichtigen die vielfältigen Einflüsse auf die jungen Bäume nur ungenügend. Prognosen zur langfristigen Waldentwicklung unter Huftiereinfluss sind deshalb mit grossen Unsicherheiten behaftet.

At present habitat fragmentation and destruction caused by human activities leading to small populations in wild species are major challenges in conservation biology. Building activities reduce the available area and deteriorate the quality of habitat for wild species. Traffic infrastructure impedes animal movements and leads to major disturbance which additionally reduces habitat quality for wildlife. Previously functioning metapopulations may end up in isolated relatively small subpopulations with all the concomitant problems.
In Switzerland the built area is still increasing as well as the total length of roads and railway lines. Hence the size of remaining fragments continuously decreases. Average size of fragments in Switzerland varies among regions. "Mesh size" is smallest on the Swiss Plateau and largest in regions like the Jura Mountains and the Alps. A survey showed that 16 percent of all known nationally important wildlife corridors were completely interrupted and functionality was more or less severely impaired in another 56 percent. Most of the affected corridors were situated on the Swiss Plateau. All this may lead to highly fragmented wildlife populations.
Small isolated populations may be threatened by stochastic demographic events, like highly biased sex ratio, or small populations may be extirpated by extreme weather events. Small populations may also suffer from genetic effects, like inbreeding, loss of genetic variation and accumulation of deleterious alleles. Loss of metapopulation functionality may lead to the local extinction of species. A combination of several negative factors with mutual reinforcement may lead to a so-called extinction vortex with severe consequences on local and regional biodiversity.
We used the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) as a model species to study effects of fragmentation through fenced highways on genetic composition and differentiation. Due to its relatively large size and thus relatively extensive area requirements the roe deer may reveal such effects within reasonable time after fragmentation. Further, the roe deer is a common species over large parts of Europe and one of the most important species for hunting. Thus sampling did not pose any extensive logistic problems and was not of conservation concern. All samples could be obtained from the usual annual hunting bag. The examined material was heart muscle from which nuclear DNA was extracted.
In order to detect genetic discontinuities, we screened 12 polymorphic microsatellites on approximately 1100 individuals out of roe deer populations that were sampled on both sides of fenced motorways on the Swiss plateau as well as in larger unfragmented areas along the northern Alps.
For some areas we revealed clear influences of transportation infrastructures on genetic divergence of the roe deer population examined. In other areas no clear effects of fragmentation by the roads was found. In none of the examined populations any impact on genetic diversity was detected. The achieved genetic results clearly revealed geographic areas with potential problems for connectivity between animal populations caused by national highways. These results may be used for future planning and decisions for management implementations to defragment landscapes. The data collected may further be used to control the success of defragmentation measures in future.