Spatial sensitivity of maize gene flow to landscape pattern: a simulation approach
Résumé
Field experiments and between-field simulation studies have stressed the dependence of maize gene flow to distance between source and receptor fields and to their spatial configuration. However the influence of the whole landscape pattern is still poorly investigated. Spatially explicit model such as MAPOD-maize are useful tool to address this question. In this paper we developed a methodological approach to investigate the sensitivity of cross-pollination rate simulated with MAPOD-maize to landscape pattern. Landscape pattern was incorporated as an explicit input factor. Its influence on model outputs at the field scale was investigated, including its interactions with other major inputs of the model. The results showed that the most influent landscape variables were metrics describing the pattern in the surrounding area of the targeted field. Field geometry and map characteristics of the landscape pattern brought little additional information.