Isolating the role of the matrix at patch and landscape scales

Global increases in habitat loss and fragmentation have resulted in non-habitat land cover, or the matrix, becoming an increasingly prominent feature of landscapes. The matrix can influence the population dynamics of species in fragments by modifying processes operating locally on individual patches (e.g., edge effects on survival) or at landscape scales (e.g., inter-patch dispersal). However, the relative magnitude of patch- vs. landscape-scale matrix effects on the populations found in patches remains unclear. We established 12 experimental landscapes in which we controlled for habitat amount and fragmentation while manipulating the quality of the matrix around (i) individual habitat patches and (ii) across the entire landscape in a factorial design. We then compared the magnitude of local- and landscape-scale matrix effects on a specialist herbivore, Chelinidea vittiger (Hemiptera: Coreidae). Population size in fragments was influenced by both patch- and landscape-scale treatments: p..., , # Isolating the role of the matrix at patch and landscape scales

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.kprr4xhh6](10.5061/dryad.kprr4xhh6)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data is from experimental landscapes set up to test the scale of matrix effects across fragmented landscapes. Forty patches of Opuntia cactus were experimentally planted in 50 by 50-meter landscapes. A total of twelve landscapes were constructed with each in a spatially blocked pair. The matrix vegetation was mechanically reduced at two scales: either a 1m directly surrounding a patch or the remaining landscape 1m away from all patches. Cactus bugs (Chelinidea vittiger) were released in these landscapes and then followed for 3 years across 11 sampling periods. Data set 1 corresponds to population surveys of adult and nymphs for C. vittiger, and data set 2 is the mark recapture histories for all adults in the experiment.

### Files and variables

#### File: MatrixScale\_PopulationSurveys.csv

**Description:** Ab...,