Two collaborative projects successfully completed
News from Forest Research: December 2008
Two collaborative projects have recently been successfully completed by Forest Research on the theme of landscape connectivity, funded by a consortium of eight organisations led by Defra.
The first was a full systematic literature review aiming to address the question ‘Which landscape features affect species movement and dispersal?’, carried out in conjunction with the Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation at Bangor University. Although the literature examined did not cover all species groups or landscape types, there was evidence that corridors facilitate movement between habitat patches and that matrix types similar to a species’ ‘home’ or breeding habitat patch are more permeable to their movement than other matrices.
The second project investigated and tested a range of methods for assessing connectivity in the UK, with the aim of selecting the best method to use as an indicator for European biodiversity reporting in 2010. Around 30 methods were tested, ranging from a simple ‘nearest neighbour’ method to complex incidence function models (IFMs). The project, carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, recommended an indicator that accounts for functional connectivity, i.e. the impact of land uses between patches. This was supported by the findings of the evidence review and is likely to be Both of these contract reports are adopted by the UK for 2010.
Landscape ecology research at Forest Research presently focuses on validating the principles underlying current policies on improving landscape connectivity.
Both of these contract reports are adopted by the UK for 2010. available for download from the
Defra website:
- Evidence review
- Connectivity indicator report
For more details see our landscape ecology research or contact Kevin Watts.
