Influence of separating home range and dispersal movements on characterizing corridors and effective distances.

Understanding connectivity patterns in relation to habitat fragmentation is essential to landscape management. However, connectivity is often judged from expert opinion or species occurrence patterns, with very few studies considering the actual movements of individuals. Path selection functions provide a promising tool to infer functional connectivity from animal movement data, but its practical application remains scanty. We aimed to describe functional connectivity patterns in a forest carnivore using path-level analysis, and to explore how connectivity is affected by land cover patterns and road networks.We radiotracked 22 common genets in a mixed forest-agricultural landscape of southern Portugal. We developed path selection functions discriminating between observed and random paths in relation to landscape variables. These functions were used together with land cover information to map conductance surfaces. Genets moved preferentially within forest patches and close to riparian habitats. Functional connectivity declined with increasing road density, but increased with the proximity of culverts, viaducts and bridges. Functional connectivity was favoured by large forest patches, and by the presence of riparian areas providing corridors within open agricultural land. Roads reduced connectivity by dissecting forest patches, but had less effect on riparian corridors due to the presence of crossing structures. Genet movements were jointly affected by the spatial distribution of suitable habitats, and the presence of a road network dissecting such habitats and creating obstacles in areas otherwise permeable to animal movement. Overall, the study showed the value of path-level analysis to assess functional connectivity patterns in human-modified landscapes.

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Blázquez-Cabrera S. Gastón A. Beier P. Garrote G. Simón M.A. y Saura S. Influence of separating home range and dispersal movements on characterizing corridors and effective distances. Springer, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0407-5

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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2024-12-02
Date of last revision 2025-01-20
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Metadata identifier be1ba8e3-761c-579e-861b-7b174f9dd384
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Blázquez-Cabrera, S., Gastón, A., Beier, P., Garrote, G., Simón, M.A. y Saura, S.
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Other identifier DOI: 10.1007/s10980-016-0407-5
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