Length-based connectivity metrics and their ecological interpretation

Abstract

a b s t r a c tMetrics that quantify habitat connectivity and fragmentation in landscape ecology are examined, as well as the relations between them and their interpretation. The radius of gyration, defined here as the rootmean-square distance of habitat patches from the centre of the habitat, has special significance from an ecological point of view that other metrics lack. This metric has been incorrectly used in the field of landscape ecology -its definition is different from its definition in every other field, causing it to lose its ecological meaning. Inconsistencies in terminology between landscape ecology and other fields raise dangers of misinterpretation of metrics.

Identifying Policy-relevant Indicators for Assessing Landscape Vegetation Patterns to Inform Planning and Management on Multiple-use Public Lands

“…Connectivity, in particular, is an area of focus currently among both federal and state resource managers (US Department of the Interior 2017c , 2018b ; BLM 2018 , 2019b ). Connectivity metrics based on proximity, graph theory, network theory, and circuit theory each have different strengths, weaknesses, and utility for informing conservation and management actions (e.g., Baker et al 2015 , Rayfield et al 2011 , Simpkins et al 2018 ). Managers may want to use a metric that better captures overall connectivity patterns or incorporate complementary analyses on corridors or functional connectivity for key plant or wildlife species.…”