Assessment and Spatial Planning of Landscape Ecological Connectivity for Biodiversity Management (Case Study: Qazvin Province)

Habitat and ecosystem fragmentation and, consequently, the loss of landscape connectivity are major causes of biodiversity destruction, leading to disruption of material, energy, and information flow at the landscape scale. Given the importance of this issue, the current study aimed to evaluate the ecological connectivity and spatial planning of Qazvin Province, in order to re-establish and protect material, energy, and information flow corridors, using a landscape ecology approach. With that in mind, land use/land cover map was used to identify ecologically functional areas and to map barrier effect and ecological connectivity indicies by mathematical modeling techniques using model builder algorithms in Geographic Information System (GIS). Appropriate patches were, then, spatially selected for restoration and conservation across the landscape. The results showed that 90% of the province has the ecological function, but 10% of the area lacks the function. Three percent of the area has lost its ecological function by physical barriers such as road networks and industrial and residential expantions, and 7% of the area lost its functionality due to anthropogenic effects. In this research, four corridors were identified for spatial planning. Results of this study can be used for management of protected areas and land use planning, as well as environmental impact assessment and envuronmental strategic assessment.