Mapping functional connectivity

Vogt, Peter; Ferrari, Joseph R.; Lookingbill, Todd R.; Gardner, Robert H.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Ostapowicz, Katarzyna

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.01.011

Cited by 212 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…To assess structural habitat connectivity created by the forest stands formally and voluntarily set aside for biodiversity conservation in our two study areas, we used the Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) (Ostapowicz et al, 2008;Soille and Vogt, 2009;Vogt et al, 2007aVogt et al, , 2007bVogt et al, , 2009). The MSPA has been used to quantify the structural (Ostapowicz et al, 2008;Vogt et al, 2007a, b, c;Wickham et al, 2010) and functional ) connectivity, and landscape fragmentation (Ostapowicz et al, 2008).…”

Section: Assessment Of Structural Habitat Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How does forest certification contribute to boreal biodiversity conservation? Standards and outcomes in Sweden and NW Russia

Elbakidze

Angelstam

Andersson

et al. 2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is one of the leading forest certification schemes. While many studies concern political aspects and social outcomes of FSC, little is known about the contribution of certification to biodiversity conservation. In Europe, the Russian Federation and Sweden have the largest areas of FSC certified forest. We assessed the potential of FSC certification for boreal biodiversity conservation in terms of standard content, and outcomes as habitat area set aside and habitat network functionality. First, we compared the biodiversity conservation indicators at different spatial scales in Swedish and Russian FSC standards. Second, focusing on one large state forest management unit in each country, we compared the areas of formally and voluntarily set aside forests for biodiversity conservation. Third, we evaluated the structural habitat connectivity by applying morphological spatial pattern analysis, and potential functional connectivity by using habitat suitability index modelling for virtual species. The Russian standard included indicators for all spatial scales of biodiversity conservation, from tree and stand to landscape and ecoregions. The Swedish standard focused mainly on stand and tree scales. The area of voluntary set-asides for FSC was similar in Sweden and Russia, while formal protection in the Russian case study was three times higher than in the Swedish one. Swedish set-aside core areas were two orders of magnitude smaller, had much lower structural and potential functional connectivity and were located in a fragmented forestland holding. We conclude that to understand the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation both the standard content, and its implementation on the ground, need to be assessed. We discuss the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation with different levels of ambition. We stress the need for developing rapid assessment tools to evaluate outcomes of FSC for biodiversity conservation on the ground, which could be used by forest managers and FSC-auditors toward adaptive governance and management.

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Section: Assessment Of Structural Habitat Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How does forest certification contribute to boreal biodiversity conservation? Standards and outcomes in Sweden and NW Russia

Elbakidze

Angelstam

Andersson

et al. 2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…As a result, the land class in each image was further classified into six categories: perforated, edge, patch, small core (,250 acres), medium core (between 250 and 500 acres), and large core (.500 acres). An edge width parameter was specified as 15 m. The literature indicates that the edge width varies according to the issue of interest (Riiters et al, 2000;Vogt et al, 2009). This edge effect distance was chosen after testing several different values for this parameter, and based on visual examinations of the resulting fragmentation maps and input data sets, it was decided that 15 m represented the optimum distance for edgeeffect influence for this data set.…”

Section: Fragmentation Map Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blending Geospatial Technology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Enhance Restoration Decision-Support Processes in Coastal Louisiana

Bethel

Brien

Danielson

et al. 2011

Journal of Coastal Research

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More informed coastal restoration decisions have become increasingly important given limited resources available for restoration projects and the increasing magnitude of marsh degradation and loss across the Gulf Coast. This research investigated the feasibility and benefits of integrating geospatial technology with the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of an indigenous Louisiana coastal population to assess the impacts of current and historical ecosystem change on community viability. The primary goal was to provide coastal resource managers with a decision-support tool that allows for a more comprehensive method of assessing localized ecological change in the Gulf Coast region, which can also benefit human community sustainability. Using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping products, integrated with a coastal community's TEK to achieve this goal, the research team determined a method for producing vulnerability/sustainability mapping products for an ecosystem-dependent livelihood base of a coastal population based on information derived from RS imagery prioritized with TEK. This study also demonstrates how such an approach can engage affected community residents who are interested in determining and addressing the causes and mitigating the decline of marsh habitat.Historical image data sets of the study area were acquired to understand evolution of land change to current conditions and project future vulnerability. Image-processing procedures were developed and applied to produce maps that detail land change in the study area at time intervals from 1968 to 2009. This information was combined in a GIS with acquired TEK and scientific data sets relating to marsh vegetation health and vulnerability characteristics to produce mapping products that provide new information for use in the coastal restoration decision-making process. This information includes: (1) marsh areas that are most vulnerable; and (2) the areas that are most significant to community sustainability.

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“…So far, only some attempts have been made to combine functional and structural connectivity [16]. However, mapping and assessing functional connectivity is a complex task because of the scarcity of data available to implement species-specific assessments and because results depend on methods to analyze preferences in terms of species movements [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, the latter is related to species' behavior in response to landscape structure and to the landscape structure per se as well [13]. Although analyses based on structural connectivity are less complicated, for example in terms of input data requirements [14], functional connectivity recognizes the species-specific character of connectivity [15]. So far, only some attempts have been made to combine functional and structural connectivity [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Infrastructure and Ecological Corridors: A Regional Study Concerning Sardinia

et al. 2018

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Abstract:We propose a methodological approach to identify a multifunctional green infrastructure (GI) on the basis of four values (conservation value, natural value, recreation value and anthropic heritage) that represent many functions (biodiversity conservation, supply of ecosystem services, recreation, identity building) performed by the landscape. By taking the Italian region of Sardinia as a case study, we argue that the methodology can support the making of landscape plans as understood in the European Landscape Convention. Moreover, we propose and implement a methodology to identify ecological corridors (ECs) connecting Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss), based on the prioritization of functional land patches related to their suitability to ecosystem services delivery, paying particular attention to biodiversity maintenance and enhancement, and taking Sardinia as spatial regional context. The methodology consists of two steps: (i) identifying the most suitable patches to be included in ECs on the basis of their connectivity, that is, on their negative attitude towards contributing to landscape fragmentation; (ii) assessing, through a discrete-choice-model, the suitability of these ECs to be included in a regional GI, starting from the territorial taxonomy based on biodiversity characteristics related to N2Ss, habitat suitability, and recreational and landscape potentials.

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Mapping functional connectivity

Cited by 212 publications

References 32 publications

How does forest certification contribute to boreal biodiversity conservation? Standards and outcomes in Sweden and NW Russia

How does forest certification contribute to boreal biodiversity conservation? Standards and outcomes in Sweden and NW Russia

Blending Geospatial Technology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Enhance Restoration Decision-Support Processes in Coastal Louisiana

Green Infrastructure and Ecological Corridors: A Regional Study Concerning Sardinia

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