human activities often adversely affect natural landscapes and ecosystems. natural landscapes consist of habitats, and habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to biodiversity. environmental impact assessment (eia)as a systematic and well documented procedure to identify, describe and assess the direct and indirect effects of a developmental project in different environments does not co...

The present study was conducted to examine the impact of cage aquaculture on benthic communities in coastal areas (depth 25 to 50 m) from fish farming operations located along the southeastern Black Sea (Ordu-Perşembe, Trabzon-Yomra and Rize central). Sampling was conducted seasonally from April 2007 to 2009. Sediment samples were taken using Ekman Grab (box core- 0.04 m2). Temperature, salinit...

Landscape connectivity is critical to maintaining viable populations within patches of suitable habitat and is a function of the surrounding matrix’s resistance to an organism’s movement. As land use within the matrix varies, it can be expected that landscape connectivity will vary and as connectivity decreases, the probability of habitat occupancy by a species will decrease as well. Recognizin...

Resource selection analyses based on detection data are widely used to parametrize resistance surfaces identify ecological corridors. To successfully resistance, it is crucial decouple resident and disperser behaviours yet date connectivity studies using have not addressed this issue. Here, we decoupled of dispersing wolves by analysing collected within a natural corridor crossing human dominat...

Jaguar (Panthera onca) populations in the Upper Paraná River, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest region, live in a landscape that includes highly fragmented areas as well as relatively intact ones. We developed a model of jaguar habitat suitability in this region, and based on this habitat model, we developed a spatially structured metapopulation model of the jaguar populations in this area to an...

The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outsi...

Due to that the vegetation has been influenced by human activity for a long period, such as logging, grazing and trampling, giant pandas’ habitat has been fragmented gradually, which has threatened the survival of the giant panda. Therefore, it would be an essential issue to inspect the spatial pattern of the giant panda’s habitat and analyze the factors which drive these habitat changes. The a...

Introduction Application of a Hierarchical Habitat Unit Classification System: Stream Habitat and Salmonid Distribution in Ward Creek, Southeast Alaska M.D. Bryant, B.E. Wright, and B.J. Davies A hierarchical classification system separating stream habitat into habitat units defined by stream morphology and hydrology was used in a pre-enhancement stream survey. The system separates habitat unit...