Examining local and regional ecological connectivity throughout North America

Output from 12 Omniscape model runs using three resistance surfaces and four moving window sizes (Belote et al. 2022, Landscape Ecology). Resistance surfaces were created through alternative transformations (varying c) of the 2015 estimates of human modification from Theobald et al. (2020). The radius of the circular moving windows were 30-km, 150-km, 300-km, or 700-km. Descriptions of directories are in the csv file called “folder descriptions.” There are three outputs within each of the 12 folders: cum_currmap, flow_potential, and normalized_cum_currmap. These are, respectively:

1. Cumulative current flow: the total current flowing through the landscape – the result of the Omniscape algorithm described above.
2. Flow potential (optional): current flow under "null" resistance conditions. Flow potential demonstrates what movement/flow would look like when movement is unconstrained by resistance and barriers. Flow potential is calculated exactly as cumulative current flow is, but with resistance set to 1 for the entire landscape.
3. Normalized current flow (optional): calculated as cumulative current flow divided by flow potential. Normalized current helps identify areas where current is impeded or channelized (e.g. more or less current than expected under null resistance conditions). High values mean current flow is channelized, low values mean current is impeded.

Descriptions of outputs above are quoted directly from https://docs.juliahub.com/Omniscape/uqaJf/0.4.3/.

References:

Belote, RT, Barnett K, Zeller K, Brennan A, and Gage J (2022) Examining local and regional ecological connectivity throughout North America. Landscape Ecology

Theobald DM, Kennedy C, Chen B, et al (2020) Earth transformed: Detailed mapping of global human modification from 1990 to 2017. Earth System Science Data 12:1953–1972. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1953-2020