Development of a Spatialy Explicit Habitat Patch Model (c-pan) and Comparative Analysis of Patch Modeling Techniques: the Crafting of a New Tool for Conservation Planners

...................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION................................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER ONE: .............................................................................................................. 1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 1 Research Objectives and Rationale ..................................................................................... 8 Research Question Development ...................................................................................... 11 Specific Research Questions ............................................................................................. 13 Thesis Organization .......................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER TWO: ........................................................................................................... 19 DEVELOPMENT OF THE COHESIVE-PATCH AGGREGATION AND NETWORK (C-PAN) MODEL ..................................................................................... 19 Patch Modeling and Reserve Selection Overview ............................................................ 19 Reserve Selection Approaches .................................................................................. 20 Reserve Design Approaches...................................................................................... 21 Spatially Explicit Population Approaches ................................................................ 23 Patch Modeling Mechanics ............................................................................................... 23 Basic Patch Generation ............................................................................................ 23 Rules of Contiguity in Patch Generation .................................................................. 24 Region-Growing Patch Generation .......................................................................... 25 Hybrid Patch Generation .......................................................................................... 26 Specific Patch Generation Tools: Corridor Designer .............................................. 27 Specific Patch Generation Tools: FunConn ............................................................. 28 Specific Patch Generation Tools: C-PAN ................................................................. 29 C-PAN Model Development Overview ............................................................................ 30 Detailed C-PAN Model Development Methods ............................................................... 33 C-PAN Model Development Results ................................................................................ 44 C-PAN Model Development Discussion .......................................................................... 47 C-PAN as a Decision Support Tool .................................................................................. 51 C-PAN Model Strengths, Weaknesses, Assumptions and Limitations ............................ 53 C-PAN Model Conclusions .............................................................................................. 56