Mid-South Connectivity Corridors Based on Habitat Conditions
Summary
This data layer maps potential connectivity corridors at the large landscape scale based on an analysis of broadly defined habitats relevant to wildlife action plans in the Mid-South USA. This product is derived from the Mid-South Terrestrial Broadly Defined Habitats Condition Index layer, which is a product of the same project. That layer identified 15 types of terrestrial habitat for wildlife species of concern and the assessed site condition and patch and landscape configuration metrics at 30-meter resolution. The assessment assigns a Condition Index value ranging from 0-14 with zero representing non-habitat land and 14 representing a targeted habitat that meets all assessed condition metrics. This connectivity analysis uses a cost-distance [...]
Summary
This data layer maps potential connectivity corridors at the large landscape scale based on an analysis of broadly defined habitats relevant to wildlife action plans in the Mid-South USA. This product is derived from the Mid-South Terrestrial Broadly Defined Habitats Condition Index layer, which is a product of the same project. That layer identified 15 types of terrestrial habitat for wildlife species of concern and the assessed site condition and patch and landscape configuration metrics at 30-meter resolution. The assessment assigns a Condition Index value ranging from 0-14 with zero representing non-habitat land and 14 representing a targeted habitat that meets all assessed condition metrics. This connectivity analysis uses a cost-distance approach to describe potential connectivity corridors between core areas of highest quality habitat. Core areas were selected by identifying the top ten percent of HUC12 watersheds in terms average Condition Index within zones associated with ecoregions. Cores were classified into four sets based on size, and cost distance maps (using the inverse of the condition index scores) were generated for each set. The cost distance maps were summed so that zones of low values connecting cores could be identified as potential connectivity corridors based on presence and quality of targeted habitat types. The summed values were standardized by dividing each value by the max value, resulting in a range of 0.0178 to 1.
