Assessment of ecological connectivity for urban environments: A multispecies approach

The habitats of many ground-based fauna species in developing urban regions have altered in their structure and are often isolated from other habitat locations due to the urban growth. Habitat areas that are well connected to other fragments of habitat have been shown to assist particular fauna in their movement from one location to another. Two key benefits of faunal movement are the transfer of genes resulting in improved genetic diversity and support for larger populations of particular species. Habitat connectivity is therefore seen as critical to the survival of many fauna species in urban locations. Lack of habitat connectivity in the landscape poses the critical threat of extinction to many ground-based species. This thesis develops a multispecies method for assessing habitat connectivity in urban landscapes. While effective conservation management requires a multispecies approach to establishing conservation priorities, connectivity is in fact a species-specific attribute of the landscape. This study aims to assess connectivity by developing a multispecies method based on species-specific considerations, thereby addressing the differences in the two aspects. The application of graph theory is well suited to modelling the structure of urban landscapes. A graph-based multispecies method was designed based on specific criteria relating to a biologically realistic assessment of connectivity. This was then applied to Metropolitan Melbourne by determining the habitat networks of four ground-based fauna species and assessing connectivity across species networks. The method was then evaluated by testing the sensitivity of modelling outputs to the determination of the maximum effective distance for the target species and the resistance values that were used to quantify the species resistance layers. The species-specific connectivity outcomes were then overlaid and combined in order to assess overall ecological connectivity. The revised method comprises four key steps. These are: (1) choice of target species for a given urban region; (2) construction of species-specific networks within that region; (3) connectivity measurement of species-specific networks; and (4) combination of connectivity results to assess the ecological connectivity for the urban region. In general, this study offers three innovations. First, the graph-based multispecies method is innovative in terms of multispecies capacity to consider species-specific characteristics when assessing connectivity. Second, it establishes a rigorous set of graph-based metrics that determine essential dimensions of connectivity: connectivity between two specific habitats, connectivity of the whole network, and those habitats that contribute most to connectivity. Third, the study developed a new algorithm for the identification of gaps in species habitat networks. In addition, the method offers new insights into the development of species-specific resistance layers. The multispecies method allows for flexibility in decision-making by providing opportunities for trade-offs between different conservation alternatives. The method will serve as a foundation to support conservation planning and decision-making through the establishment of priority areas within the urban landscape that will enhance connectivity and support biodiversity. This multispecies method will assist any conservation authority to avoid redundancy in planning and decision-making, thereby ensuring long-term financial savings in conservation projects

Recreating Myths in Contemporary Iranian Literature: Case Study of Mehdi Akhavan Sales Works

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the myths recreating in contemporary literature with an emphasis on Mehdi Akhavan Sales (M-Omid) works. Myths are among valuable heritages of every community and people that come from the humankind latent and in other words, represent an ethnic group dream. Myths recreation in poetry and literary works is the most artfully use of myth making. Poets integrate and combine different mythic elements with the aim of acquiring new mythic elements and with the help of myth making, make the myths close to their contemporary time. The results of these literary works have been followed by political and social developments in contemporary times. Mehdi Achaean Sales is one of the poets who are strongly interested in their own land myths. Opposing to the political and social conditions of his time, he tried to recreate the ancient myths of Iran land, and he managed to make conditions politically and socially desirable. Recreating myths, the poet has been able to leave some works that are unique in their kind

Assessment of Ecological Connectivity of Urban Green Patches Using Graph Theory: the Case study of Ahvaz Metropolitan Area

Connectivity of urban green patches is an important structural attribute of urban landscape that facilitates the species movement and transfer of their genes among their habitats. So far, several methods including Graph Theory have been applied to assess ecological connectivity. This research was aimed  to study the application of graph theory to measure the connectivity of green patches in the city ofAhvaz .The Graph is a mathematical concept including nodes and links. The research method is based on modeling the network of green patches in the GIS environment using Graph Theory. The ecological connectivity was analyzed using the software Conefor Sensinode 2.6, by applying IIC metric and node-removal algorithm; thus, the urban green patches were ranked in relation to 4 different groups of species. Generally, similar results were achieved by applying the attributes of four different species (r=0.95). The study results showed that Ahvaz fourth district in the eastern side of Karoon River comprised the largest and the most significant green patch. Also, the fourth and fifth distincts of the city were relatively the most connected. Determining the more significant green patches and improving the connectivity of urban landscape could  help the accurate identification of conservation priorities whichwould  ensure financial savings in urban planning and decision making. &nbsp

Application of Graph Theory in Landscape Ecology The Case Study: Assessment of Habitat Connectivity within Greater Melbourne

A new method to quantify, monitore and assess ecological structures and functions is the application of graph theory. In ecology, this theory demonstrates its suitable application in assessment of ecological connectivity. Connectivity is the structural attribute of landscape which facilitates the species movement among their habitats. Using graph theory, this paper aims to assess the connectivity of habitats within an urban landscape. Therefore, firstly the graph fundamentals, the graph-based connectivity studies, various methods, software and graph-based metrics for graph modeling were discussed. Then using this theory, the habitat network of Varanus varius was modelled within the Greater Melbourne as a weighted network incorporating nodes and active links. The connectivity of adjacent habitats was assessed using pij and flux metrics. The overall connectivity of the network was assed using DCflux Eventually the nodes were prioritized based on their importance for maintenance of network connectivity. The use of method showed that majority of highly ranked patches are located on the fringes of metropolitan Melbourne. In addition, a number of important patches are located on the urban growth boundary at North, North East and East of Melbourne that is a potential conflict between conservation plans and land use planning. Due to the ease of its application and validity of results, the use of this theory and the metric DCflux is recommended to study the species habitat networks in fragmented landscapes especially urban landscapes. &nbsp

An alternative approach to establishing ecological connectivity in an urban environment

The significance of conserving biodiversity in Australia, including native fauna and flora species, is increasingly being recognised by the scientific community. Ecological connectivity assists with theis conservation. Ecological connectivity is associated with the key features of the landscape which facilitate the movement of species and in turn can enhance the biodiversity. While ecological connectivity has been studied frequently in the Greater Melbourne area to meet various objectives, there is still lacking a comprehensive and effective approach to investigate the ecological connectivity for all the species which are influenced by the changes in this urban area. This paper presents a multi-species approach for investigating ecological connectivity in Metropolitan Melbourne. The paper begins by exploring the significance of ecological connectivity in urban areas. The focus is then on the various approaches for addressing ecological connectivity to establish the fundamentals of the new approach. Modeling of habitat networks based on graph theory, for selected target species, is at the core of the research. The connectivity analysis for each graph model, the overlaying of the graph models and the detection of gaps in the networks, the restoration proposals for the gaps in the networks are different step towards a comprehensive analysis of the ecological connectivity. The resulting approach is believed to lead to a more practical and integrated study of connectivity for the planning of future Melbourne landscapes in order to support biodiversity