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Ecological corridors and landscape planning: a model to select priority areas for connectivity maintenance

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Abstract

Context

Maintaining connectivity in landscapes where natural ecosystems are quickly replaced by human land-uses is a challenge. To reduce the effects of habitat loss, ecological corridors have been proposed as a relevant tool for landscape planning.

Objective

We aimed to develop a spatial model to identify and prioritize riparian corridors to improve landscape connectivity.

Methods

The model considers the effect of the land-use/cover types and remaining forests on the movement capacity of a focal species sensitive to fragmentation. Since landscape elements act as barriers or promoters to ecological fluxes, suitability values were set according to the element’s ability in providing habitat. The model recognizes the effect of the contact between associated elements along the riparian corridor’s width and length and corrects their suitability. These procedures enabled the calculation of the Utility Factor, resulting in a measure of the quality of the corridor.

Results

The results show that the model assists the identification of the riparian corridor’s sections where connectivity is hampered and management efforts are required to maintain landscape connectivity. In addition, it can be applied to select the corridors dominated by large forests, which could be designed for conservation purposes. The two study cases evidence that the model is flexible, adjustable to distinct landscapes, and the decision-maker’s objectives.

Conclusions

We concluded that the proposed strategy helps decision-makers to prioritize the territories for managing or preserving connectivity. Finally, the method provides quantitative information that would not be perceived by just interpreting land-use/cover maps.

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source of friction) and “a``” is the generalized element corrected by the friction factor

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source and sink forests. The arcs’ UF and ARD (arc relative distance) can be observed in the bottom of the figure

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Acknowledgements

We thanks to Dra. Franklina M. B. de Toledo and to Leandro Mattiolli for the orientation related to the development of the algorithm. We also thanks to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/PROEX) (Grant Number: 88882.327891/2019-01) for financially supporting the study.

Funding

This study was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). The authors thank to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/PROEX) (Grant Number: 88882.327891/2019–01) for the fellowship provided to the author FRG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design, State University of Campinas, Cidade Universitária “Zeferino Vaz”, Rua Saturnino de Brito, Campinas, São Paulo, CEP: 13083-889, Brazil

    Isadora Rebelo Salviano

  2. Department of Ecology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, Rua Do Matão, Cidade Universitária, Travessa 14, São Paulo, CEP: 05508-900, Brazil

    Fernando Ravanini Gardon & Rozely Ferreira dos Santos

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  1. Isadora Rebelo Salviano
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  2. Fernando Ravanini Gardon
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  3. Rozely Ferreira dos Santos
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Correspondence to Fernando Ravanini Gardon.

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Salviano, I.R., Gardon, F.R. & dos Santos, R.F. Ecological corridors and landscape planning: a model to select priority areas for connectivity maintenance. Landscape Ecol 36, 3311–3328 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01305-8

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