N6. Assessing and monitoring connectivity restoration and conservation at local and regional scales
Ulrich Walz (Dresden University of Applied Sciences), ulrich.walz@htw-dresden.de
Jochen Jaeger (Concordia University)
Summary
The connectivity of natural and semi-natural landscape elements and large-scale landscape areas is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly sprawled, fragmented, and intensified landscape. Connectivity conservation and restoration will require some consistent form of assessment and monitoring to be able to evaluate the needs for action and any progress made. This symposium welcomes contributions to local and regional projects aiming at identifying and restoring connectivity approaches to monitoring, e.g., using landscape metrics, and on the integration of connectivity in planning.
Description
In summer 2020, the IUCN published their new report providing "Guidelines for conserving connectivity through ecological networks and corridors" (https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/49061). This report emphasizes the importance of preserving, maintaining, and restoring well-functioning corridors in the habitat network for the preservation of biodiversity. Large-scale corridors at both national and regional level play a role here, as does the structural diversity of the landscape in the spaces between the corridors. In order to identify needs for action and to demonstrate progress, suitable tools are needed for monitoring and evaluation on a regular basis. Current concepts of regional planning and nature conservation stipulate that a certain proportion of connected habitats should be present in all landscapes in order to maintain their ecological functions. For this purpose, connectivity conservation will require some form of monitoring at the landscape level.
The symposium will address the following issues, among others:
- Examples of local and regional projects aiming at the identification, restoration, protection, or maintenance of habitat networks.
- Approaches to monitoring based on landscape metrics from local to regional scales.
- Comparison of different approaches to model connectivity (circuit theory, graph theory, ...) and available software and Metrics like Circutscape, Omniscape, Linkage Mapper, or indicator 2 of the City Biodiversity Index (CBI).
- Consideration of functional connectivity and structural connectivity.
- Verification of connectivity models: How appropriate is the use of roadkill data?
- Consideration of ecological connectivity in planning and in EIA: Where are performance gaps, and where is need for improvement?