Habitat Fragmentation, Connectivity Conservation and Related Key-Concepts: Temporal Trends in Their Recurrences on Web of Science (1960–2020)

In this work, we analyzed the temporal trends of nine selected key terms used in the habitat fragmentation arena, quantifying their number (and frequency) of recurrence on Web of Science from 1960 to 2020. The most used key (focal) terms (“stepping stones”, “habitat corridors”, “landscape connectivity”), showed a progressive increase from 1981 to 2020, with “landscape connectivity” showing the highest increase in frequency in the last decade (2011–2020). Among the key secondary terms (recurring < 5%), although “corridors”, “continuity”, and “contiguity” showed a slight growth over the decades, “connectivity conservation” showed the most significant increase. This last landscape-related term recently replaced other local-scale concepts (as “stepping stones” and “corridors”) as a consequence of a change of perspective. Conversely, “ecological network planning”, used in landscape planning and less in conservation biology, showed a comparable fewer recurrence. This gap in recurrences could be due to a bias in our research approach, as Web of Science is a search engine that does not intercept grey literature (as plans and reports) drawn up by Public Agencies which rarely appears in scientific journals.