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Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2014, 4(3): 123-133
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Article

Detecting barriers and facilities to species dispersal: Introducing sloping flow connectivity

Alessandro Ferrarini
Department of Evolutionary and Functional Biology, University of Parma, Via G. Saragat 4, I-43100 Parma, Italy

Received 28 April 2014;Accepted 2 June 2014;Published online 1 September 2014
IAEES

Abstract
Connectivity in ecology deals with the problem of how biotic dispersals can happen, given actual landscape properties and species presence/absence over such landscape. Recently I have introduced a modelling approach (flow connectivity) to ecological connectivity that is alternative to circuit theory, and is able to fix the weak point of the "from-to" connectivity approach. In addition, I've introduced "reverse flow connectivity" that couples evolutionary algorithms to partial differential equations in order to fix the problem of subjectivity in the attribution of friction values to landscape categories. I've also showed that flow connectivity can be used to predict biotic movements happened in the past (backward flow connectivity). To date, there has been little effort by conservation scientists towards detecting restoration opportunities by mapping barriers that strongly reduce movement potential. In this paper, I introduce a new kind of theoretical and modelling approach called "sloping flow connectivity". The goal of such proposal is to individuate and map barriers and facilities to species dispersals over the landscape. I define here a barrier as a landscape feature that impedes biotic movements, the removal of which would increase the potential for biotic shifts. Using sloping flow connectivity, it's possible to plan greenways and ecological networks in an effective manner, since it is able to enhance the real potential of each landscape elements to facilitate or obstruct both directional and overall species movements.

Keywords biotic flows;dispersal facilities;flow connectivity;gene flow;landscape barriers;landscape connectivity;partial differential equations;species dispersal..

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