It has been suggested that the preservation of linear habitat may be important in
maintaining metapopulations in agricultural landscapes (Baudry et al. 2000, Grashof-
Bokdam and Van Langevelde 2005, Gelling et al. 2007). Metapopulation theory predicts
that as available habitat decreases, the spatial arrangement of the remaining habitat becomes
increasingly important (Hanski 1999), and linear elements could serve as movement corridors
between remaining habitat patches (Soule and Terbough 1999). We found that structurally
connected linear habitat does not necessarily imply that organisms can reach each site
within that habitat with equal probability. It has indeed been shown that metapopulation
dynamics can be found in structurally connected habitat (With et al. 1999), which resulted in
the proposition that landscape connectivity requires a functional or process-oriented definition
of landscape structure (e.g. Be´lisle 2005). In our study, ‘patchy’ distributions were
found in linear habitat with local differences in occupation frequency (including local
absence) instead of one large contiguous population.