VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF HABITAT DYNAMICS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO LIFE SCIENCE AND GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH

Abstract

The change in biodiversity is often associated with habitat loss and fragmentation, but it is not clear whether the relationship between habitat patch area and species richness was similar among land-use systems and biogeographic settings. A global site-level dataset comprising 1,843 sampling sites drawn from 88 independent studies was used to evaluate how species richness varies with habitat configuration while accounting for land use, biome, latitude, and net primary productivity. Species richness was analyzed as log(1 + richness), habitat patch area as log10(m²), and linear mixed-effects models were fitted with study identity as a random intercept. In addition to an additive model, an interaction model tested whether patch size effects differed among land-use categories. Species richness showed a latitudinal gradient, with absolute latitude remaining a significant predictor in the mixed-effects framework (β = 0.053, SE = 0.013, p < 0.001). Patch size exhibited a positive bivariate association with richness, and productivity was positively associated in multivariate models. However, in the interaction model, the main patch-size term was marginal (β = −0.119, p = 0.062), and multiple patch-size × land-use interaction terms were significant, indicating that patch-size slopes differed among land-use systems rather than remaining uniform. Habitat configuration was associated with species richness, but its interpretation depended on land-use identity and broader environmental gradients, supporting integrative ecological–geospatial assessment of habitat dynamics.