Habitat and resistance values for adder, water vole, dormouse and hedgehog
Description
This data is needed for performing functional connectivity analysis using the algorithms Circuitscape and/or Omniscape. It includes the habitat and resistance values of different habitat types and environmental features for the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), Adder (Vipera berus) and Water vole (Arvicola amphibius). The habitats/environmental features contained in this dataset are those present in the following GIS databases or data layers: - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Land Cover Map 2019: for land cover, free for higher education institutions via Digimap. https://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/data-portals - ORVal Parks England: for green infrastructure (e.g. gardens, parks, urban woods) in England. https://www.leep.exeter.ac.uk/orval/documents - ORVal Paths England: for path networks England. https://www.leep.exeter.ac.uk/orval/documents - OS Roads, Ordnance Survey Open Data: for road infrastructure in England. https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/OpenRoads - OS Rivers, Ordnance Survey Open Data: for rivers networks in England. https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/OpenRivers - Priority I habitats Data was obtained through expert elicitation. Experts in the species of interest were identified through academic publications or job role in relevant conservation organisations (e.g., People's Trust for Endangered Species, Mammals group or Biological Record Centres). The survey to elicit knowledge was structured as follows. First, after a brief description of the objectives of the study, respondents were asked to select the focal species for which they were filling out the survey. Then, they were instructed on the meaning of habitat and resistance values. The next survey sections presented the habitats and features contained in the GIS data layers. Each habitat was accompanied by its definition to avoid bias in the interpretation of the habitat types. Respondents were asked to rate the suitability of habitat (Uninhabitable, Somewhat suitable, Moderately suitable, Highly suitable, Ideal habitat) and resistance value (Minimum resistance, Low resistance, Moderate resistance, High resistance, Maximum resistance) of each habitat/feature defined for the selected species. Three valid (complete) responses for the adder, five for the dormouse, six for the hedgehog and thirteen for the water vole were obtained. Following data collection, the resulting scores (from 0 to 4) were transformed using the usual min-max normalization formula: x^'=(x-min(x))/max〖(x)-min(x)〗 into the range of values needed for habitat (from 0 to 1) and resistance (from 0 to 100), following the ranges from demonstration files provided by the developers of Gnarly Landscape Utilities: McRae, B. H., Shirk, A. J., & Platt, J. T. (2014). Gnarly Landscape Utilities: Resistance and Habitat Calculator User Guide. The Nature Conservancy, Fort Collins, CO. https://circuitscape.org/gnarly-landscape-utilities/
Files
Steps to reproduce
This data can be used to be inputted into Gnarly Landscape Utilities for creating "Habitat Core" and "Resistance" GIS layers, needed to perform connectivity analysis in Omniscape and/or Circuitscape.