Road network development and landscape dynamics in the Santa Fe River watershed, north-central Florida, 1975 to 2005

Product Type: Abstract

Year: 2009

Author(s): Coffin, A.W

Pages: 1

Suggested Citation: Coffin, A.W. 2009. Road network development and landscape dynamics in the Santa Fe River watershed, north-central Florida, 1975 to 2005 abs.. In: Ecological Knowledge and a Global Sustainable Society. 94th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America; 2009 Aug 2-7; Albuquerque, NM. : Ecological Society of America. p. 1.

Abstract

Road networks persist in the landscape and have numerous ecological ramifications. Landscape ecologists have relied on a limited number of metrics, particularly road density and distance to road, in studies of ecological responses to roads. Transportation geographers have developed network analytic methods to characterize road networks, providing a diverse suite of metrics that describe network structure and function. This research investigated road network and landscape dynamics in north-central Florida from 1975 to 2005. Specific research questions included: How did the road network structure change over time? How did the dynamics of road network development and land cover affect patterns of landscape fragmentation? What were the differences in fragmentation patterns between forested and agricultural/open land-cover types? How did fragmentation vary across space/time as the road network changed? Road network extent, connectivity and accessibility were quantified using twenty-three indices derived from mapped features and network analysis. Network indices measured topological characteristics, providing quantitative values of network connectivity and accessibility. Changes in these metrics characterized road network development. This study explored relationships between changes in road network (linear and topological) metrics, and landscape metrics of land cover, patch size and abundance, and effective mesh size (a connectivity-based measure of fragmentation)...