Articles · Open Access Policy
Abstract
Ponds, tanks, wetlands and small lakes are examples of freshwater ecosystems which house aquatic diversity. However, agriculture, urban development and drainage systems continue to cause fragmentation of these ecosystems. In this study, a spatial methodology based on a landscape approach that employs remote sensing, GIS, landscape metrics, least cost path analysis and graph theory was developed to map connectivity between isolated freshwater habitats in a 100 km² landscape. A total of 24 patches amounting to 3.84% of the total landscape were mapped, while 58.33% were found to be isolated. There were nine least cost corridors and habitat patches H03 and H10 were identified as important corridors. An ecosystem restoration scenario increased the Probability of Connectivity from 18.60% to 31.40%. The framework supports corridor restoration and conservation prioritization.