Normalized least-corridor mosaic using temperature gradients and landscape integrity resistance
Dates
Publication Date
2011-06
Citation
Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group. 2011. Temperature-plus-Landscape Integrity and Temperature-only Corridors:.
USGS ScienceBase.
Summary
These two datasets represent a normalized least-cost corridor mosaic (see WHCWG 2010 and McRae and Kavanagh 2011) calculated using (1) temperature gradients and a landscape integrity resistance raster, or (2) temperature gradients only, following the climate gradient linkage-modeling methods outlined in Nuñez (2011), using an adapted version of the Linkage Mapper software (McRae and Kavanagh 2011). This GIS dataset is one of several climate connectivity analyses produced by Tristan Nuñez for a Master's thesis (Nuñez 2011). The dataset was produced in part to assist the Climate Change Subgroup of the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). The core areas in the map lie in Washington State and neighboring areas [...]
Summary
These two datasets represent a normalized least-cost corridor mosaic (see WHCWG 2010 and McRae and Kavanagh 2011) calculated using (1) temperature gradients and a landscape integrity resistance raster, or (2) temperature gradients only, following the climate gradient linkage-modeling methods outlined in Nuñez (2011), using an adapted version of the Linkage Mapper software (McRae and Kavanagh 2011). This GIS dataset is one of several climate connectivity analyses produced by Tristan Nuñez for a Master's thesis (Nuñez 2011). The dataset was produced in part to assist the Climate Change Subgroup of the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). The core areas in the map lie in Washington State and neighboring areas in British Columbia, Idaho, and Oregon.This connectivity analysis should be displayed in conjunction with vector layer of Landscape Integrity Core Areas developed by the WHCWG (WHCWG 2010).
This GIS dataset is part of a suite of wildlife habitat connectivity data produced by the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). The WHCWG is a voluntary public-private partnership between state and federal agencies, universities, tribes, and non-governmental organizations. The WHCWG is co-led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). This dataset quantifies current wildlife habitat connectivity patterns for the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Available WHCWG raster data include model base layers, resistance, habitat, cost-weighted distance, and landscape integrity. Grid cell size is 90 m x 90 m. Habitat concentration areas, core areas, and linkage maps reside in raster and vector format. Project background can be found in the report: Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). 2012. Washington Connected Landscapes Project: Analysis of the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Washington Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA. Report document available online at: http://www.waconnected.org.
The purpose of layers created using the climate gradient linkage-modeling method (Nuñez 2011) is to help inform conservation practitioners, land use planners, and interested stakeholders in their understanding of areas likely to be important for biota as species adapt their distributions to climatic change. As noted in Nuñez (2011), the results using this method are exploratory and intended to be broad-scale and generic in nature, and are not intended to direct conservation resources to specific locations or organisms. The purpose of this specific layer, which is based on both temperature gradients and human land use patterns (landscape integrity), is to illustrate routes on the landscape between landscape integrity core areas that provide for unidirectional change in mean annual temperature between the core areas while avoiding areas of low landscape integrity (e.g., agricultural, urban, or transportation land use areas).
