Areas Important for Ecological Connectivity Throughout Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACTGovernments around the world have acknowledged the importance of conserving ecological connectivity to help reverse the decline of biodiversity. In this study we employed recent methodological developments in circuit theory to conduct the first pan-Canadian analysis of multi-species connectivity for all terrestrial regions of the country, at a spatial grain sufficient to support local land-management decisions. We developed a movement cost surface with a limited number of thematic categories using the most recently updated land cover data available for the country. We divided the country into 17 tiles and used a wall-to-wall, omnidirectional mode of Circuitscape on each tile in order to assess ecological connectivity throughout entire landscapes as opposed to strictly among protected areas. The resulting raw current density map of Canada revealed heterogenous patterns of current density across the country, strongly influenced by geography, natural barriers, and human development. We included a validation analysis of the output current density map with independent wildlife data from across the country and found that mammal and herpetofauna locations were predicted by areas of high current density. We believe our current density map can be used to identify areas important for connectivity throughout Canada and thereby contribute to efforts to conserve biodiversity.