Graduation Year

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.

Degree Granting Department

Geography, Environment and Planning

Major Professor

Joni Downs, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Michael Niedzielski, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Fenda Akiwumi, Ph.D.

Keywords

spatial connectivity, categorical map pattern, transportation networks, patches, wildlife biodiversity

Abstract

Landscape metrics measure the composition and configuration of habitats within landscapes; often the goal is to measure fragmentation. While a variety of existing metrics characterize the connectivity and contiguity of habitat patches, most do not explicitly consider the fragmenting effects of roads in their formulations. This research develops a set of new landscape metrics that explicitly quantify how roads disconnect and break apart habitat patches. This research introduces the following four metrics to consider the fragmenting effects of transportation networks: (1) Number of Connected Patches, a measure of connectivity; (2) Euclidean Nearest Neighbor-Roads, a measure of proximity; (3) Road Density, a measure of dispersion, and (4) Distance to Roads, a measure of division. Each of these formulations explicitly considers the presence of roadways. The metrics are applicable at three spatial scales: patch, class, and landscape.

Number of Connected Patches (NCP) provides a new roadway-sensitive measure of patch connectivity by computing the number of patches of identical cover type in a landscape that can be traversed on the shortest straight line distance between them without crossing a road. Euclidean Nearest Neighbor-Roads (ENNR) calculates the distance to the Euclidean nearest neighbor of a patch of the same cover type that is not separated by a roadway. Road Density (RD) leverages the ratio of total roadway network length intersecting a patch, class, or landscape versus respective total unit area. Distance to Roads (DR) provides a new measure of division by taking the shortest Euclidean distance in meters of any patch to the nearest roadway.

The performance of the new metrics is evaluated using simulated landscape data with different transportation network structures and habitat patch configurations. This is accomplished by comparing output from the road-based metrics to existing metrics that quantify habitat density, isolation, dispersion, and division. The results of the study demonstrate that the new road-based landscape metrics provide an improved means of quantifying habitat fragmentation caused by transportation networks. This is especially evident as simulated transit network increases for each landscape; response of new metrics to increased road presence is linear and as expected given metric design. These metrics have successfully captured notable patch, class, and landscape level characteristics and their associated responses which are not available with treatment by conventional measures of landscape fragmentation.

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