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Climate forcing of wetland landscape connectivity in the Great Plains
Author(s) -
McIntyre Nancy E,
Wright Christopher K,
Swain Sharmistha,
Hayhoe Katharine,
Liu Ganming,
Schwartz Frank W,
Henebry Geoffrey M
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/120369
Subject(s) - habitat , wetland , ecology , geography , wildlife , climate change , wildlife corridor , landscape connectivity , forcing (mathematics) , environmental science , biology , geology , climatology , population , biological dispersal , demography , sociology
Habitat connectivity is a landscape attribute critical to the long‐term viability of many wildlife species, including migratory birds. Climate change has the potential to affect habitat connectivity within and across the three main wetland complexes in the Great Plains of North America: the prairie potholes of the northern plains, the Rainwater Basin of Nebraska, and the playas of the southern plains. Here, we use these wetlands as model systems in a graph‐theory‐based approach to establish links between climatic drivers and habitat connectivity for wildlife in current and projected wetland landscapes and to discern how that capacity can vary as a function of climatic forcing. We also provide a case study of macrosystems ecology to examine how the patterns and processes that determine habitat connectivity fluctuate across landscapes, regions, and continents.