Landscape connectivity is important for all organisms as it directly affects population dynamics. Yet, rapid urbanization has caused serious landscape fragmentation, which is the primary contributor of species extinctions worldwide. Previous studies have mostly used spatial snap-shots to evaluate the impact of urban expansion on landscape connectivity. However, the interactions among habitats over time in dynamic landscapes have been largely ignored. Here, we demonstrated that overlooking temporal connectivity can lead to the overestimation of the impact of urban expansion. How much greater the overestimation is depends on the amount of net habitat loss. Moreover, we showed that landscape connectivity may have a delayed response to urban expansion. Our analysis shifts the way to understand the ecological consequences of urban expansion. Our framework can guide sustainable urban development and can be inspiring to conservation practices under other contexts (e.g., climate change).

中文翻译：

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评估城市扩展对跨时空的周围森林景观连通性的影响

景观连通性对所有生物都很重要，因为它直接影响种群动态。然而，快速的城市化进程已造成严重的景观破碎化，这是全球物种灭绝的主要原因。先前的研究大多使用空间快照来评估城市扩张对景观连通性的影响。然而，动态景观中栖息地之间的相互作用随着时间的流逝已被很大程度上忽略。在这里，我们证明了忽略时间连通性可能导致对城市扩张影响的高估。高估的多少取决于生境净丧失的数量。此外，我们表明，景观连通性可能会对城市扩张产生延迟的响应。我们的分析改变了理解城市扩张的生态后果的方式。