Effects of Habitat Heterogeneity and Topographic Variation on Insect Pest Risks in Alpine Regions

Lei Wang, Fei-Xue Zhang, Lan-Ping Li, Chun-Jing Wang () and Ji-Zhong Wan
Additional contact information
Lei Wang: College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Fei-Xue Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Lan-Ping Li: State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Chun-Jing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Ji-Zhong Wan: State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: Insect pests pose a significant threat to alpine ecosystems, especially under rapid environmental change conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the effects of environmental factors on insect pest risks and provide methods for pest management in alpine regions. Habitat heterogeneity and topographic variation are the indicators of insect pest risks. However, few studies have explored the effects of habitat heterogeneity and topographic variation on insect pest risks in alpine regions. We used species distribution modeling (i.e., maxent modeling) to project the distributions of insect pests in this alpine region based on occurrence records. Then, we delineated the high-risk areas for insect pests based on the species distributions under a conceptual risk framework using Zonation software for different ecoregional types. We determined the alpine conifer and mixed forests of the Nujiang Langcang Gorge, the conifer forests of the Qilian Mountains, and the shrublands and meadows of Southeast Tibet as the key areas requiring monitoring for insect pests in Qinghai province based on the scoring of insect pest risk rank with >0.7. Habitat heterogeneity and topographic variation could be developed as indicators of risk exposure to insect pests in alpine regions. Our study suggests that the prevention and control of insect pests should be conducted in areas with high habitat heterogeneity and topographic roughness in alpine regions. We provided new insights into the application of species distribution modeling based on habitat heterogeneity and topographic variation. The results of our study indicate that habitat heterogeneity and topographic variation should be considered for improving pest management effectiveness in alpine regions.

Keywords: alpine region; environmental heterogeneity; insect pest; risk assessment; Tibetan Plateau; topography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1314/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1314/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:7:p:1314-:d:1183504

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().