Assessing the Impact of Urban Expansion on Surrounding Forested Landscape Connectivity across Space and Time

Landscape connectivity is important for all organisms as it directly affects population dynamics. Yet, rapid urbanization has caused serious landscape fragmentation, which the primary contributor of species extinctions worldwide. Previous studies have mostly used spatial snap-shots to evaluate impact urban expansion on connectivity. However, interactions among habitats over time in dynamic landscapes been largely ignored. Here, we demonstrated that overlooking temporal can lead overestimation expansion. How much greater depends amount net habitat loss. Moreover, showed may a delayed response Our analysis shifts way understand ecological consequences framework guide sustainable development and be inspiring conservation practices under other contexts (e.g., climate change).