Broad‐Scale Landscape Structure and Fine‐Scale Microhabitat Jointly Shape the Distribution of the Jeju Salamander, Hynobius quelpaertensis
- 1Department of Biological Sciences Kongju National University Kongju‐si Republic of Korea
Abstract
Species distribution models often assume that species occupy all environmentally suitable space, but low‐dispersal amphibians may track landscape structure that has persisted over long periods as well as current local conditions. We examined how broad‐scale landscape structure and fine‐scale microhabitat jointly shape the distribution of the Jeju salamander, Hynobius quelpaertensis , on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Using 85 spatially thinned occurrence records and 10,000 background points sampled on land, we compared a broad‐scale predictor set (terrain at ≥ 1 km, drainage position and long‐term climate, used as a proxy for a long‐term topographic‐hydrological template) with a fine‐scale set (microtopography, wetness, insolation and canopy). Weighted elastic‐net models were evaluated by spatial block cross‐validation with block‐bootstrap confidence intervals, and a generalized additive model (GAM) with broad‐scale suitability as an offset tested whether microhabitat refined occupancy within broadly suitable space. The broad‐scale and fine‐scale models discriminated occurrences equally well (ROC AUC = 0.79 and 0.78), but the broad‐scale model was better calibrated (Tjur's R ² = 0.16 vs. 0.12), and the combined model performed best (ROC AUC = 0.81; Tjur's R ² = 0.20). Both sets identified drainage position: occurrence increased with upstream drainage area and local wetness and was higher in hollows and valley bottoms. Within the broad‐scale core, fine‐scale smooth terms doubled Tjur's R ² (0.14 to 0.28): occurrence rose with canopy shade and valley depth and declined on exposed south‐facing slopes, although the gain in discrimination was uncertain. Areas suitable only at the fine scale covered 24% of the island but had one‐sixth the presence rate of areas suitable at both scales. Valley drainage structure thus sets the template for the distribution of H. quelpaertensis , and shaded, moist microhabitat refines occupancy within it. Conservation should maintain drainage networks together with their forest cover, and candidate unoccupied areas should be surveyed in the field.
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BibTeX
@article{kim2026broadscale,
title = {{Broad‐Scale Landscape Structure and Fine‐Scale Microhabitat Jointly Shape the Distribution of the Jeju Salamander, Hynobius quelpaertensis}},
author = {Jun‐Sung Kim and Jun‐Kyu Park and Ji‐Eun Lee and Yuno Do},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74661},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74661},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Broad‐Scale Landscape Structure and Fine‐Scale Microhabitat Jointly Shape the Distribution of the Jeju Salamander, Hynobius quelpaertensis
AU - Jun‐Sung Kim
AU - Jun‐Kyu Park
AU - Ji‐Eun Lee
AU - Yuno Do
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/08
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74661
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74661
AB - Species distribution models often assume that species occupy all environmentally suitable space, but low‐dispersal amphibians may track landscape structure that has persisted over long periods as well as current local conditions. We examined how broad‐scale landscape structure and fine‐scale microhabitat jointly shape the distribution of the Jeju salamander, Hynobius quelpaertensis , on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Using 85 spatially thinned occurrence records and 10,000 background points sampled on land, we compared a broad‐scale predictor set (terrain at ≥ 1 km, drainage position and long‐term climate, used as a proxy for a long‐term topographic‐hydrological template) with a fine‐scale set (microtopography, wetness, insolation and canopy). Weighted elastic‐net models were evaluated by spatial block cross‐validation with block‐bootstrap confidence intervals, and a generalized additive model (GAM) with broad‐scale suitability as an offset tested whether microhabitat refined occupancy within broadly suitable space. The broad‐scale and fine‐scale models discriminated occurrences equally well (ROC AUC = 0.79 and 0.78), but the broad‐scale model was better calibrated (Tjur's R ² = 0.16 vs. 0.12), and the combined model performed best (ROC AUC = 0.81; Tjur's R ² = 0.20). Both sets identified drainage position: occurrence increased with upstream drainage area and local wetness and was higher in hollows and valley bottoms. Within the broad‐scale core, fine‐scale smooth terms doubled Tjur's R ² (0.14 to 0.28): occurrence rose with canopy shade and valley depth and declined on exposed south‐facing slopes, although the gain in discrimination was uncertain. Areas suitable only at the fine scale covered 24% of the island but had one‐sixth the presence rate of areas suitable at both scales. Valley drainage structure thus sets the template for the distribution of H. quelpaertensis , and shaded, moist microhabitat refines occupancy within it. Conservation should maintain drainage networks together with their forest cover, and candidate unoccupied areas should be surveyed in the field.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -