Applying circuit theory for corridor expansion and management at regional scales: tiling, pinch points, and omnidirectional connectivity.

ABSTRACT: Connectivity models are useful tools that improve the ability of researchers and managers to plan land use for conservation and preservation. Most connectivity models function in a point-to-point or patch-to-patch fashion, limiting their use for assessing connectivity over very large areas. In large or highly fragmented systems, there may be so many habitat patches of interest that assessing connectivity among all possible combinations is prohibitive. To overcome these conceptual and practical limitations, we hypothesized that minor adaptation of the Circuitscape model can allow the creation of omnidirectional connectivity maps illustrating flow paths and variations in the ease of travel across a large study area. We tested this hypothesis in a 24,300 km(2) study area centered on the Monté

SUBMITTER: Pelletier D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3907452 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature