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The Effect of Map Boundary on Estimates of Landscape Resistance to Animal Movement

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  • Erin L Koen
  • Colin J Garroway
  • Paul J Wilson
  • Jeff Bowman

Abstract

Background: Artificial boundaries on a map occur when the map extent does not cover the entire area of study; edges on the map do not exist on the ground. These artificial boundaries might bias the results of animal dispersal models by creating artificial barriers to movement for model organisms where there are no barriers for real organisms. Here, we characterize the effects of artificial boundaries on calculations of landscape resistance to movement using circuit theory. We then propose and test a solution to artificially inflated resistance values whereby we place a buffer around the artificial boundary as a substitute for the true, but unknown, habitat. Methodology/Principal Findings: We randomly assigned landscape resistance values to map cells in the buffer in proportion to their occurrence in the known map area. We used circuit theory to estimate landscape resistance to organism movement and gene flow, and compared the output across several scenarios: a habitat-quality map with artificial boundaries and no buffer, a map with a buffer composed of randomized habitat quality data, and a map with a buffer composed of the true habitat quality data. We tested the sensitivity of the randomized buffer to the possibility that the composition of the real but unknown buffer is biased toward high or low quality. We found that artificial boundaries result in an overestimate of landscape resistance. Conclusions/Significance: Artificial map boundaries overestimate resistance values. We recommend the use of a buffer composed of randomized habitat data as a solution to this problem. We found that resistance estimated using the randomized buffer did not differ from estimates using the real data, even when the composition of the real data was varied. Our results may be relevant to those interested in employing Circuitscape software in landscape connectivity and landscape genetics studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin L Koen & Colin J Garroway & Paul J Wilson & Jeff Bowman, 2010. "The Effect of Map Boundary on Estimates of Landscape Resistance to Animal Movement," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(7), pages 1-8, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0011785
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011785
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. LaRue, Michelle A. & Nielsen, Clayton K., 2008. "Modelling potential dispersal corridors for cougars in midwestern North America using least-cost path methods," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 372-381.
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    Cited by:

    1. J Nevil Amos & Andrew F Bennett & Ralph Mac Nally & Graeme Newell & Alexandra Pavlova & James Q Radford & James R Thomson & Matt White & Paul Sunnucks, 2012. "Predicting Landscape-Genetic Consequences of Habitat Loss, Fragmentation and Mobility for Multiple Species of Woodland Birds," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(2), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Robby R Marrotte & Jeff Bowman, 2017. "The relationship between least-cost and resistance distance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, March.

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