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Connectivity

This note is about the concept of connectivity across domains.

Some general points:

  • Segregation exists both within populations and between different species
  • The reduced communication caused isolation leads to disturbances in non-adaptive evolutionary mechanisms
  • To alleviate, humans can consider habitats of non-human species in future urban design and planning processes

Report on the conditions in Melbourne:

Kirk, Holly, Caragh Threlfall, Kylie Soanes, Cristina Ramalho, Kirsten Parris, Marco Amati, Sarah A. Bekessy, and Luis Mata. ‘Linking Nature in the City: A Framework for Improving Ecological Connectivity Across the City of Melbourne’. Melbourne: City of Melbourne, 2018.

LaPoint, Scott, Niko Balkenhol, James Hale, Jonathan Sadler, and Rodney van der Ree. ‘Ecological Connectivity Research in Urban Areas’. Functional Ecology 29, no. 7 (2015): 868–78. https://doi.org/10/f7jp7f.

Garrard, Georgia E., Nicholas S. G. Williams, Luis Mata, Jordan Thomas, and Sarah A. Bekessy. “Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design.” Conservation Letters 11, no. 2 (2018): e12411. https://doi.org/10/gfsqmw.

Parris, Kirsten M., Marco Amati, Sarah A. Bekessy, Danielle Dagenais, Ole Fryd, Amy K. Hahs, Dominique Hes, et al. “The Seven Lamps of Planning for Biodiversity in the City.” Cities 83 (2018): 44–53. https://doi.org/10/gfsp47.

Kindlmann, Pavel, and Francoise Burel. “Connectivity Measures: A Review.” Landscape Ecology 23, no. 8 (2008): 879–90. https://doi.org/10/dkzcvp.

Keeley, Annika T. H., Galli Basson, D. Richard Cameron, Nicole E. Heller, Patrick R. Huber, Carrie A. Schloss, James H. Thorne, and Adina M. Merenlender. “Making Habitat Connectivity a Reality: Habitat Connectivity.” Conservation Biology 32, no. 6 (2018): 1221–32. https://doi.org/10/gn6tr9.

Fragmentation

As the opposite concept to connectivity, something that is typically a problem.

Evans, Karl L., Stuart E. Newson, and Kevin J. Gaston. ‘Habitat Influences on Urban Avian Assemblages’. Ibis 151, no. 1 (1 January 2009): 19–39. https://doi.org/10/c45p4g.

Fahrig, Lenore. ‘Ecological Responses to Habitat Fragmentation Per Se’. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 48, no. 1 (2017): 1–23. https://doi.org/10/gc5vsh.

Fischer, Joern, and David B. Lindenmayer. ‘Landscape Modification and Habitat Fragmentation: A Synthesis’. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16, no. 3 (2007): 265–80. https://doi.org/10/bfv5s6.

Fletcher, Robert J., Raphael K. Didham, Cristina Banks-Leite, Jos Barlow, Robert M. Ewers, James Rosindell, Robert D. Holt, et al. ‘Is Habitat Fragmentation Good for Biodiversity?’ Biological Conservation 226 (2018): 9–15. https://doi.org/10/gfd4bk.

Laiolo, Paola, and Jose L. Tella. ‘Habitat Fragmentation Affects Culture Transmission: Patterns of Song Matching in Dupont’s Lark’. Journal of Applied Ecology 42, no. 6 (2005): 1183–93. https://doi.org/10/b59mwn.

Lindenmayer, David B., and Joern Fischer. Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change: An Ecological and Conservation Synthesis. Washington: Island Press, 2013.

Miller-Rushing, Abraham J., Richard B. Primack, Vincent Devictor, Richard T. Corlett, Graeme S. Cumming, Rafael Loyola, Bea Maas, and Liba Pejchar. ‘How Does Habitat Fragmentation Affect Biodiversity? A Controversial Question at the Core of Conservation Biology’. Biological Conservation 232 (2019): 271–73. https://doi.org/10/gfvxns.

Pharo, Emma J., and Charles E. Zartman. ‘Bryophytes in a Changing Landscape: The Hierarchical Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Ecological and Evolutionary Processes’. Biological Conservation 135, no. 3 (2007): 315–25. https://doi.org/10/bd26rh.

Turner, Monica G., and Robert H. Gardner. ‘Organisms and Landscape Pattern’. In Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice: Pattern and Process, edited by Monica G. Turner and Robert H. Gardner, 229–85. New York: Springer, 2015. https://doi.org/10/d9nz.

Wysocki, Ina Tessnow-von, and Alice B. M. Vadrot. ‘Governing a Divided Ocean: The Transformative Power of Ecological Connectivity in the BBNJ Negotiations’. Politics and Governance 10, no. 3 (2022): 14–28. https://doi.org/10/grg3w8.

Cf. rights to the city, access, animal geography:

Hubbard, Phil, and Andrew Brooks. ‘Animals and Urban Gentrification: Displacement and Injustice in the Trans-Species City’. Progress in Human Geography 45, no. 6 (2021): 1490–1511. https://doi.org/10/gj8k43.

Transport use:

Kent, Jennifer L., Corinne Mulley, and Nick Stevens. ‘Challenging Policies That Prohibit Public Transport Use: Travelling with Pets as a Case Study’. Transport Policy 99 (2020): 86–94. https://doi.org/10/gh6cjg.

Design Responses

  • bridges
  • bioreceptive surfaces, horizonal and vertical
  • permeable plot boundaries
  • surface water, daylighting of water where previously put under the ground
  • planting and maintenance of vegetation
  • soil cultivation
  • integration of small, medium and large-scale connectivity
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