Abstract

COLORADO ZULUAGA, Gabriel Jaime; VASQUEZ MUNOZ, Jorge Luis  and  MAZO ZULUAGA, Ingrid Natalia. Model of Ecological Connectivity of Andean Forest Fragments in Santa Elena (Medellín, Colombia). Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2017, vol.22, n.3, pp.379-393. ISSN 0120-548X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/abc.v22n3.63013.

Forest fragmentation and the associated potential habitat loss is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. One strategy that promotes its maintenance at a landscape scale is the establishment of biological corridors that enhance structural and functional connectivity of the biotic components. However, the applicability and functionality of this tool is limited due to the lack of planning at the moment of the design and establishment of corridors or connectivity networks that are guided by detailed and rigorous methods. In this research, we developed a theoretical proposal of ecological connectivity for the Santa Elena village, Medellin municipality, Colombia, using tools from landscape ecology. Initially, 21 forest fragments or nucleus were selected based on their minimum size (larger than 5 ha), core area (larger than 1 ha), and shape index (rounded or nearly rounded). Then, based on a friction matrix, we designed a potential network that would allow to connect 1356.35 ha of remnants forests through 31 ecological corridors of 100 m wide, comprising 208.33 ha in total. Finally, we discussed the importance of promoting this kind of strategies based on landscape ecology that enhance both habitat conservation and landscape connectivity in areas near large Latin-American cities.

Keywords : biodiversity; ecological connectivity; landscape.

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