How ecological networks could benefit from landscape graphs: A response to the paper by Spartaco Gippoliti and Corrado Battisti

Abstract

Ecological networks are tools for conservation planning that rely on the concept of connectivity. Criticisms leveled at them are that they are widely used in a dogmatic way regardless of how they compare against other tools and that their efficiency is rarely assessed. I propose to include landscape graphs in the debate because they are designed to be operational models of ecological networks. I outline the key features of landscape graphs that can be matched with some of these criticisms: weighting of patches and links to take the landscape matrix into account, integrated metrics dealing with both connectivity and amount of habitat, and the possibility of including them in a decision-support system based on scenario analyses. I conclude that criticisms of ecological networks reveal the lack of diffusion of modeling tools such as landscape graphs, and that approaches such as participatory modeling bringing together scientists and practitioners could be one way to improve matters.