Reptiles

Protecting connectivity benefits reptile populations and gene flow. Because reptiles are ectothermic, restoring connectivity will allow reptiles to shift their ranges with changing climate conditions. For marine species, such as sea turtles, aquatic connectivity is significant for migration.

Climate warming and connectivity shift the gut microbiome

Katherine Hulting2024-06-06T10:08:45-04:00June 10th, 2024|

Experiments on lizards in the Metatron show that although climate warming negatively impacts physiology, habitat connectivity can mitigate or even reverse warming effects.

Keeping rare species connected in urban areas

Heather Cayton2024-04-23T11:48:14-04:00April 24th, 2024|

Plans to protect multiple rare species across a gradient of urban areas in Michigan provide a template for preserving biodiversity in an increasingly urban world.

Sensitivity of parasites to habitat fragmentation

Heather Cayton2024-02-22T15:42:57-05:00August 30th, 2022|

The complex life cycles of some parasites make them especially vulnerable to fragmentation, impacting their important roles in ecosystem functioning and stability.

Classification	Publication	Year	Journal	Digest
Snake	Shifting protected areas: scheduling spatial priorities under climate change	2014	Journal of Applied Ecology	Allowing protected areas to come and go
Lizard	Dispersal response to climate change: scaling down to intraspecific variation	2015	Ecology Letters	Ignore at your own risk: scaling-down climate change response to the individual
Skink	Experimental habitat fragmentation disrupts host-parasite interaction over decades via life-cycle bottlenecks	2022	Ecology	Sensitivity of parasites to habitat fragmentation
Snake	Comparing linkage designs based on land facets to linkage designs based on focal species	2012	PLoS ONE
Snake	Comparing linkage designs based on land facets to linkage designs based on focal species	2012	PLoS ONE
Snake	Evaluating the Effectiveness of Brazilian Protected Areas Under Climate Change	2017	Tropical Conservation Science	What will happen to habitat in a changing climate?
Snake	Preserving connectivity under climate and land-use change: No one-size-fits-all approach for focal species in similar habitats	2020	Biological Conservation	Species in similar habitats still face unique climate and land-use threats
Snake	Evaluating population connectivity for species of conservation concern in the American Great Plains	2013	Biodiversity and Conservation	Broad-scale connectivity in the American Great Plains
Lizard	Warming effects on lizard gut microbiome depend on habitat connectivity	2024	Proceedings of the Royal Society B	Climate warming and connectivity shift the gut microbiome
Tortoise	Achieving full connectivity of sites in the multiperiod reserve network design problem	2017	Computers and Operations Research
Snake	Landscape connectivity for wildlife: development and validation of multispecies linkage maps	2014	Methods in Ecology and Evolution	Digests for Debate: Single vs. Multispecies Connectivity
Turtle	Landscape connectivity for wildlife: development and validation of multispecies linkage maps	2014	Methods in Ecology and Evolution	Digests for Debate: Single vs. Multispecies Connectivity
Multiple species	Conservation planning with uncertain climate change projections	2013	PLoS ONE	Conservation planning when climate change projections are uncertain
Snake	Landscape connectivity losses due to sea level rise and land use change " target="_blank"> Landscape connectivity losses due to sea level rise and land use change	2016	Animal Conservation	Sea level rise and land use change are set to disrupt connectivity in the Southeastern US
Turtle	Assessing habitat connectivity of rare species to inform urban conservation planning	2024	Ecology	Keeping rare species connected in urban areas
Snake	Assessing habitat connectivity of rare species to inform urban conservation planning	2024	Ecology	Keeping rare species connected in urban areas
Lizard	Using connectivity to identify climatic drivers of local adaptation	2018	Ecology Letters	Connectivity as a proxy for gene flow to infer local adaptation
Skink	Contrasting effects of pine plantations on two skinks: results from a large-scale 'natural experiment' in Australia	2015	Animal Conservation	The conflicting role of pine plantations as a matrix
Skink	Combining dispersal, landscape connectivity and habitat suitability to assess climate-induced changes in the distribution of Cunningham's skink, Egernia cunninghami	2017	PLoS ONE	What will happen to habitat in a changing climate?
Lizard	Emergent properties of species-habitat networks in an insular forest landscape	2022	Science Advances	Scaling up the impacts of habitat fragmentation to the entire landscape
Turtle	Green Turtles Highlight Connectivity Across a Regional Marine Protected Area Network in West Africa	2022	Frontiers in Marine Science	Green turtles highlight the need to protect migratory corridors
Skink	Reptiles and frogs conform to multiple conceptual landscape models in an agricultural landscape	2017	Diversity and Distributions	Five landscape conceptual models are put to the test
Lizard	Reptiles and frogs conform to multiple conceptual landscape models in an agricultural landscape	2017	Diversity and Distributions	Five landscape conceptual models are put to the test
Multiple species	Large-scale habitat corridors for biodiversity conservation: a forest corridor in Madagascar	2015	PLoS ONE	Coupling field surveys, forest mapping, and simulation models to understand the future of a Madagascar corridor
Lizard	Coupling satellite data with species distribution and connectivity models as a tool for environmental management and planning in matrix-sensitive species	2016	Environmental Management
Snake	Refining climate change projections for organisms with low dispersal abilities: a case study of the Caspian whip snake	2014	PLoS ONE
Lizard	Dry riverbeds: corridors for terrestrial vertebrates	2016	Ecosphere	Dry riverbeds can act as corridors for terrestrial organisms
Multiple species	Integrating climate-change refugia into 30x30	2023	Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment	Integrating climate-change refugia into 30×30
Multiple species	Climate change vulnerability of terrestrial vertebrates in a major refuge and dispersal corridor in North America	2022	Diversity and Distributions	Species vulnerable to climate change in the Appalachian forest corridor

View Digests from different taxa:

Map of Digests

Where is connectivity research happening near you?

Search our interactive map for hundreds of research summaries on connectivity and corridors, covering over three decades of publications.

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Hampshire	2026	SB592	Enables regional, conservation, and energy resource planning for habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors
New Hampshire	2019	SB200	Requires the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to consider fish and wildlife crossings and mitigation measures in all future road and culvert projects
New Hampshire	2016	SB376	Requires the fish and game department to identify existing and needed wildlife corridors connecting wildlife habitats in the state and to make recommendations for legislative changes

State	Year	Policy	Description
Maine	2023	LD258	Appropriates $7.5 million to Department of Transportation to improve roadways with potential adaptations for wildlife
Maine	2023	LD1881	Establishes compensation fee program relating to fish and wildlife habitats and associated corridors, including compensation paid by solar energy development
Maine	2023	LD508	Requires Department of Environmental Protection to review its permitting laws concerning climate change, habitat connectivity, ecological resilience, and coastal environments

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Jersey	2025	S3618	Directs state agencies to develop a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
New Jersey	2024	S3916/A5486	Expands eligibility for existing wildlife fencing programs by including farmers leasing farmland
New Jersey	2007	NJAC7:13	Requires the state to incorporate wildlife crossings or a natural bank for terrestrial threatened and endangered species and/or species of concern when a new bridge or culvert project would cause habitat fragmentation

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Mexico	2023	SB72	Appropriates money to new Wildlife Corridors Fund for implementation of wildlife crossing projects under New Mexico Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
New Mexico	2022	HB 2	Allocates funding for projects to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and allows the Department of Transportation and Department of Game to implement their Wildlife Corridors Action Plan
New Mexico	2019	SB 228	Requires the creation of a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that includes comprehensive guidance to agencies for identifying, prioritizing and maintaining important areas for wildlife movement

State	Year	Policy	Description
Washington	2023	HB1216/SB5196	Requires Department of Ecology to prepare environmental impact statements for clean energy projects that consider impacts to habitat connectivity and wildlife migration corridors
Washington	2022	SB5689	Provides funding for US 97 Wildlife Crossing Improvements project
Washington	2019	SEO 1031.02	Recognizes the effect of roadways in creating barriers to wildlife movement, breeding, and migrations; the Washington State Department of Transportation will promote and support Practical Solutions and Planning and Environmental Linkages to integrate habitat connectivity and biodiversity plans; will make use of the highway prioritization map known as Habitat Connectivity Investment Priorities; and will corporate and coordinate with other agencies involved in wildlife habitat protection, specifically along highways

Connecting Science to Conservation

Protecting connectivity benefits reptile populations and gene flow. Because reptiles are ectothermic, restoring connectivity will allow reptiles to shift their ranges with changing climate conditions. For marine species, such as sea turtles, aquatic connectivity is significant for migration.

Climate warming and connectivity shift the gut microbiome

Keeping rare species connected in urban areas

Sensitivity of parasites to habitat fragmentation

Search available publications by classification:

Reptiles

State	Year	Policy	Description
Florida	2024	SB1638	Dedicates annual funding to land purchases, conservation easements, and trail maintenance within Florida Wildlife Corridor
Florida	2023	HB1379	Creates annual appropriation to acquire lands that complete certain linkages and are under high population stress within Florida Wildlife Corridor
Florida	2023	SB2500 sec.146	Provides funding to buy Ocala to Osceola (“O2O”) Wildlife Corridor
Florida	2021	SB976	Tasks state agencies with maintaining wildlife connectivity and designates Florida Wildlife Corridor as an existing physical, geographically defined area
Florida	2021	SB2500	Appropriates $300 million to acquire lands to conserve Florida Wildlife Corridor
Florida	2019	SB7068	Creates a "Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance Program" that includes protection of wildlife corridors as an intended benefit
Florida	2008	SB542	Amends Florida Forever Act statues to include goals of connecting linkage corridors
Florida	2001	SB1468	Amends Florida Forever Act to establish that land acquisitions should include complete landscape linkages and corridors
Florida	1999	S908	Creates Florida Forever Program, with increased protection of lands that protect threatened or endangered species and plans to create a statewide system of connected landscape linkages