1. Hume City Council / Brimbank City Council Northwest Ecological Connectivity Investigation

2. Look familiar?

3. Policy direction for Hume
Incidentally, but fortuitously, also policy direction for Brimbank

4. What is Ecological Connectivity?
In ecology context, landscape is: spatially heterogeneous area characterized by a mosaic of patches that differ in size, shape, contents, and history (Wu, 2013).
Connectivity from an ecological perspective is the degree to which the landscape patches facilitate or impede movement (i.e. species, water, nutrients, propagules)

5. What we wanted to know Landscape level
• Which regions are connected and which are not
Patch level
• Which patches are connected and which aren’t
• Which patches are important (i.e. patches that are critical for linking the network of habitat areas across landscape)
Local scale linkages
• How does land cover affect connections between patches?
• Where are the pinch-points and where is there patch redundancy?

6. Methodology Least-cost path analysis Pinchpoint analysis (linkages)
The GAP CloSR decision-support tool1
Combines Habitat Connectivity Software (Graphab, Circuitscape, Linkage Mapper)
Produces an Integral Index of Connectivity (IIC) score (probability that two points randomly placed within a landscape fall into habitat areas that can be reached).
Least-cost path analysis
Pinchpoint analysis (linkages)
1 Lechner AM & Lefroy EC (2014) General Approach to Planning Connectivity from Local Scales to Regional (GAP CLoSR): combining multi-criteria analysis and connectivity science to enhance conservation outcomes at regional scale – Lower Hunter, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania

7. Informing the model: Identify parameters and Focal Species / Guilds
Literature review
Expert workshop with academics / researchers and NRM practitioners to identify a range of parameters and select the species / guilds to be used.

12. Red = patch would be highly vulnerable to fragmentation for that species if its surrounding linkages are lost.
Green = patch would be more resilient to fragmentation for that species if surrounding linkages are lost.

13. GIS Analysis and PDF Tools
Challenges:
11 species, 7 datasets per species
How to make meaning from all the modelling

14. All habitat patch and corridor IIC Score
Patch and Corridor level ranking
1. Assign IIC score to patches for each target species.
IIC value
Grassland IIC Score
2. For each habitat group - Sum the species IIC values.
Woodland IIC Score
Riparian IIC Score
Wet and General IIC Scores
All habitat patch and corridor IIC Score
4. Sum the IIC values for each habitat group to create an All Habitat patch ranking GIS layer.
3. Create a GIS layer for each habitat group where patches can be ranked based on the Sum IIC value.
Movement Flow ranking
Rank ciruitscape Pinchpoint (“Current Flow”) values
Sum circuitscape Pinchpoint values for each habitat and all species to determine pinchpoint importance

15. Interactive PDF

16. Limitations Patch quality not assessed
Differing habitat / resource needs

17. What does the future hold?
Developing an Ecological Connectivity Plan to guide our investment
In our rural areas – informing how we work with landowners and incentivise to achieve improved connectivity
Fostering collaboration with our neighbours and other land managers in the region
Hopefully a useful template for other organisations to consider connectivity
Ability to test the impact of new development proposals (i.e. OMR) on these results, or place a new patch or link in the landscape to see what positive impact it has.

19. FURTHER INFORMATION: Damien Harrison Coordinator Land & Biodiversity
Hume City Council
Phone | Mobile