Present Day Connectivity in California (Omniscape)

This data represents a wall-to-wall characterization of regional habitat connectivity potential in California for plant and animal species whose movement is inhibited by developed or agricultural land uses.

This model of present-day connectivity assumes there will be more '€˜current flow', representing wildlife movement, coming from and going to areas that are less modified. Wildlife may encounter barriers and land uses that are not conducive to movement en route. They may avoid moving through these areas entirely or these areas will increase their risk of harm. Land use, energy infrastructure, roads, and night lights are some of the factors that affect the '€˜resistance' to movement in this analysis.

Present Day Connectivity is partitioned into 11 classes (and the code used in the data):

  1. 3 - Land use may restrict movement:
  2. 4 - Permeable lands that contribute little to regional connectivity
  3. 19 - Impeded
  4. 25 - Diffuse - Med
  5. 29 - Diffuse - High
  6. 31 - Intensified - Low
  7. 35 - Intensified - Med
  8. 39 - Intensified - High
  9. 41 - Channelized - Low
  10. 45 - Channelized - Med
  11. 49 - Channelized - High

Connectivity classes are assembled into categories based on whether an area had more or less flow than would be expected in the absence of barriers. For example, when animal movement is restricted by surrounding land uses, it channelizes into a single movement pathway, or a linkage. These Intensified and Channelized linkages are areas with more flow and far more flow, respectively, than would be expected in the absence of nearby barriers to movement. Diffuse connectivity areas are broadly, permeable areas with as much flow as is expected. Roads and intensive development can cause complete or partial barriers to animal movement, impeding their ability to traverse the landscape. Impeded areas are areas where there is less flow than is expected.

The Omniscape output '€˜current flow' was classified into high, medium and low classes and further categorized by the amount of flow compared to what would be expected in the absence of barriers. The '€˜Channelized' class has 1.7 times more flow than expected in the absence of barriers and represents the last remaining natural pathway through a modified landscape. The '€˜Intensified' class has 1.3-1.7 times more flow than expected and represents areas where there are a few remaining natural pathways. The '€˜Diffuse' class has as much flow as expected and represents lands that have many or unlimited movement options.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated January 24, 2025, 06:54 (UTC)
Created January 24, 2025, 06:54 (UTC)
category /Biodiversity Conservation/Community Integrity
collection_name California Landscape Metrics
creation_method The approach uses Omniscape, a modified version of Circuitscape (www.circuitscape.org/) with a moving-window algorithm, to quantify ecological flow (potential connectivity) among all pixels within a 50km radius. Circuitscape treats landscapes as resistive surfaces, where high-quality movement habitat has low resistance and barriers have high resistance. The algorithm incorporates all possible pathways between movement sources and destinations and identifies areas of high flow via low-resistance routes, i.e., routes presenting relatively low movement difficulty because of lower human modification, and thus mortality risk.
data_units Categorical; 11 (listed above)
data_vintage last updated 01/2023
encoding utf8
file_name PresentDayConn_202301_202401_T1_v5
format GeoTiff
harvest_object_id 8362e1f9-c3f2-49fc-9e2f-03763b538874
harvest_source_id a2637971-af12-457f-ae4a-831d2202a539
harvest_source_title WIFIRE Commons
maximum_value 49.0
metric_definition_and_relevance This data represents a wall-to-wall characterization of regional habitat connectivity potential in California for plant and animal species whose movement is inhibited by developed or agricultural land uses. This model of present-day connectivity assumes there will be more '€˜current flow', representing wildlife movement, coming from and going to areas that are less modified. Wildlife may encounter barriers and land uses that are not conducive to movement en route. They may avoid moving through these areas entirely or these areas will increase their risk of harm. Land use, energy infrastructure, roads, and night lights are some of the factors that affect the '€˜resistance' to movement in this analysis. Present Day Connectivity is partitioned into 11 classes (and the code used in the data): 1. 3 - Land use may restrict movement: 2. 4 - Permeable lands that contribute little to regional connectivity 3. 19 - Impeded 4. 25 - Diffuse - Med 5. 29 - Diffuse - High 6. 31 - Intensified - Low 7. 35 - Intensified - Med 8. 39 - Intensified - High 9. 41 - Channelized - Low 10. 45 - Channelized - Med 11. 49 - Channelized - High Connectivity classes are assembled into categories based on whether an area had more or less flow than would be expected in the absence of barriers. For example, when animal movement is restricted by surrounding land uses, it channelizes into a single movement pathway, or a linkage. These **Intensified** and **Channelized** linkages are areas with more flow and far more flow, respectively, than would be expected in the absence of nearby barriers to movement. **Diffuse** connectivity areas are broadly, permeable areas with as much flow as is expected. Roads and intensive development can cause complete or partial barriers to animal movement, impeding their ability to traverse the landscape. **Impeded** areas are areas where there is less flow than is expected. The Omniscape output '€˜current flow' was classified into high, medium and low classes and further categorized by the amount of flow compared to what would be expected in the absence of barriers. The '€˜Channelized' class has 1.7 times more flow than expected in the absence of barriers and represents the last remaining natural pathway through a modified landscape. The '€˜Intensified' class has 1.3-1.7 times more flow than expected and represents areas where there are a few remaining natural pathways. The '€˜Diffuse' class has as much flow as expected and represents lands that have many or unlimited movement options.
minimum_value 0.0
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-124.50910057592458, 32.4242698701859], [-113.49378093963514, 32.4242698701859], [-113.49378093963514, 42.11224539131481], [-124.50910057592458, 42.11224539131481], [-124.50910057592458, 32.4242698701859]]]}
tier 1