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What are the criteria for choosing a landscape?

Landscape Attributes

Tier One (must have):

  • The full suite of landscape features. 

    • Contain a corridor complex, reference area, and two isolates.

  • Landscape features that have a hard matrix edge that define them (i.e., agriculture, industry, etc.).

  • A landscape configuration that has been stable for at least 50-years; longer stability is better.​

  • Similar distances between corridor patches, isolates, and length of the reference.​

  • An average corridor width of >100m (pinch points and linear features, such as roads, are okay), and length of >500m.

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Tier Two (ideal to have):

  • Complimenting corridor features in the project (i.e., have different attributes to the corridor than what's already being sampled). 

  • More than one set of landscape features in an area. Isolates and references can be used for multiple corridors. 

Corridors_Figure1.png
Corridor_Design.JPG

Figure 2. Graphical representation of landscape configuration.

Focal Species

Tier One (must have):

  • Structured by natural landscapes (AKA a corridor dweller)

    • Can have 1-2 species that are not corridor dwellers, but the majority should be. 

  • Moderate population size. 

    • We are looking for a species that has <1,000 individuals in a given area, so that sample size does not become too large/many genetic markers are needed to conclude anything.

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Tier Two (ideal to have):

  • Existing microsatellite markers developed.  

  • Short(er) generation times.

  • An unlisted species/not an endangered species.

  • Easy to identify and sample.

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Navigate to any Active Landscape to see examples of chosen focal species.

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