Ecological Responses to Habitat Edges: Mechanisms, Models, and Variability Explained

TLDR: In this paper, the authors identify four fundamental mechanisms that cause edge responses: ecological flows, access to spatially separated resources, resource mapping, and species interactions, and present a conceptual framework that identifies the pathways through which these four mechanisms can influence distributions, ultimately leading to new ecological communities near habitat edges.

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Edge effects have been studied for decades because they are a key component to understanding how landscape structure influences habitat quality. However, making sense of the diverse patterns and extensive variability reported in the literature has been difficult because there has been no unifying conceptual framework to guide research. In this review, we identify four fundamental mechanisms that cause edge responses: ecological flows, access to spatially separated resources, resource mapping, and species interactions. We present a conceptual framework that identifies the pathways through which these four mechanisms can influence distributions, ultimately leading to new ecological communities near habitat edges. Next, we examine a predictive model of edge responses and show how it can explain much of the variation reported in the literature. Using this model, we show that, when observed, edge responses are largely predictable and consistent. When edge responses are variable for the same species ...