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Tools for analyzing landscape connectivity: methods and applications

Prof. Santiago Saura & Prof. António Mira

DATE: 3-5 July, 2013

SCHEDULE: Wednesday to Friday, between 09:30-17:30

VENUE: NUFOR Casa Cordovil

Rua Dr. Joaquim Henrique da Fonseca Universidade de Évora, Portugal.

COST: 150 €

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: up to 20 (minimum 10)

LANGUAGE: English

PAYMENT: The payment should be executed before 27 of June 2013. Payment is required to registration confirmation.

Content outline· Part 1. Habitat fragmentation and landscape connectivity: concepts and implications.o The landscape ecology perspective in land management and species conservation.o What is habitat fragmentation? Multiple spatial change processes and differences with habitat loss.o Species responses to habitat fragmentation and landscape change.o What is landscape connectivity? Differences between structural and functional connectivity.o Landscape connectivity: importance, implications and extinction debts.o How to enhance landscape connectivity? Corridors, stepping stones and permeable landscape matrices.o Corridors and connectivity: potentially undesired effects and efficiency concerns.· Part 2. Methodological approaches for landscape connectivity analysis: spatial graphs and dispersal kernels. o Methodologies for landscape connectivity analysis: simple spatial metrics, graph structures, dynamic and spatially explicit population models. o Spatial graphs as a model for landscape connectivity networks. o How to represent the landscape as a graph: possibilities for defining and characterizing habitat nodes and links. o Dispersal kernels: a model for the frequency and scale of species dispersal movements. o Long distance dispersal: rare events with large implications. · Part 3. Habitat availability (reachability) metrics and the Conefor software package. o How to measure connectivity: only among habitat patches? o Exercise: comparing the performance of different connectivity metrics to support decision making in conservation planning. o Connectivity as the amount of reachable habitat in the landscape: the habitat availability metrics IIC and PC. o Conefor 2.6: basic characteristics and functionalities. Case study 1 (computer room): evaluating and interpreting changes in forest landscape connectivity through Conefor. · Part 4. Conservation priorities and landscape connectivity. o Prioritizing habitat patches and links by their contribution to landscape connectivity. o Partitioning habitat availability metrics: a common currency for the different roles of habitat patches as connectivity providers.o Which weight should connectivity have in the final conservation plan? Connectivity versus other conservation alternatives. Case study 2 (computer room): identifying critical areas for the maintenance of habitat connectivity for an endangered bird species through Conefor. · Part 5. Landscape matrix heterogeneity and connectivity analysis: resistance surfaces, least-cost paths and related quantitative tools.o Characterizing landscape matrix permeability through resistance surfaces: concepts and parameterization.o Least-cost paths and effective distances: advantages and limitations.o Tools for determining corridors and dispersal pathways as individual least-cost paths.Case study 3a (computer room): determining corridors and the strength of the dispersal fluxes among protected areas (including the impact of road infrastructure and other elements of the landscape matrix) through the combination of different tools for connectivity analysis based on least cost paths.· Part 6. Multiple dispersal pathways through the landscape matrix and other tools for connectivity analysis.o Multiple paths and their contribution to connectivity: movement alternatives, perceptual abilities, path redundancy, corridor saturation and competition.o Methodological approaches accounting for multiple dispersal pathways through the landscape matrix.o Tools for accounting for multiple paths in connectivity analysis: Circuitscape.o Opportunities and synergies in the combined used of different tools: towards an integrated workflow for landscape connectivity analysis.Case study 3b (computer room): determining corridors and the strength of the dispersal fluxes among protected areas (including the impact of road infrastructure and other landscape matrix elements) based on multiple dispersal pathways through the combination of Conefor and Circuitscape.