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Landscape connectivity estimates are affected by spatial resolution, habitat seasonality and population trends

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Abstract

Connectivity assessments and corridor delineation are key contributions to landscape management and biodiversity conservation. We examined the influence of three potentially crucial factors on the results of connectivity analyses, using the two subpopulations of the endangered brown bear in the Cantabrian Range (NW Spain) as a case study. First, we evaluated the spatial resolution of vegetation data, using three types of datasets ranging from coarse resolution land-cover maps to high-resolution LiDAR data. Second, the seasonal variation in the distribution of habitat resources and in the species use of the landscape. Third, multi-annual periods with different population status. The estimates of subpopulation isolation (effective distances) and the trajectory of the identified corridors were substantially influenced by (i) the spatial resolution of vegetation data; the more robust results were obtained when incorporating fine-scale LiDAR data; (ii) the season over which species occurrence data and landscape characteristics were considered; the spring mating season yielded higher connectivity estimates than any other season; (iii) the status of the populations, with higher landscape connectivity estimated for expanding populations. Our study reveals that the use of coarse-resolution data may underestimate the resistance of the non-habitat landscape matrix to species movements. The use of year-round estimates of habitat connectivity may miss the key seasonal temporal windows for species movements. Landscape resistance may be overestimated when data from periods with declining or restricted populations are used. We recommend carefully disentangling the effects of demography and landscape heterogeneity on realized species dispersal movements for improving the insights from connectivity modelling.

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Data availability

We are unwilling to archive the data associated with this paper because they contain sensitive information about individual locations of the endangered Cantabrian brown bear.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Fundación Oso Pardo and to the Regional Administrations involved in brown bear management (Junta de Castilla y León, Principado de Asturias, Gobierno de Cantabria, and Xunta de Galicia) for providing data. Two anonymous referees and the editors provided useful comments that improved an earlier version of the article.

Funding

This research was supported by GEFOUR (funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, reference AGL2012-31099), WOODNET (ERA-Net BiodivERsA, with the national funder Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, reference PCIN-2016–042) and DIABOLO (funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No 633464) projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ECOGESFOR Research Group, ETSI Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Technical University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Carlos Ciudad, María C. Mateo-Sánchez, Aitor Gastón, Sandra Blazquez-Cabrera & Santiago Saura

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  1. Carlos Ciudad
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  2. María C. Mateo-Sánchez
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Contributions

CC, MCMS, AG and SS conceived the ideas and designed methodology; CC and SBC analysed the data; CC and SS led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Carlos Ciudad.

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Communicated by David Hawksworth.

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Ciudad, C., Mateo-Sánchez, M.C., Gastón, A. et al. Landscape connectivity estimates are affected by spatial resolution, habitat seasonality and population trends. Biodivers Conserv 30, 1395–1413 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02148-0

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