Greater ecosystems of protected areas

Belote and Wilson used the human footprint to create maps of resistance based on three functions of how gradients of Venter et al.'s (2016) human footprint layer relates to ecological resistance (or, alternatively, permeability). The three alternative resistance models were then used to calculate cost-weighted distance from the edge of protected areas. This was done to identify the most permeable lands surrounding protected areas, as a means of defining "greater ecosystems" of protected areas. These data could be used as a coarse assessment to guide conservation planning aimed at maintaining species and ecological flows within protected areas. The data could also be used as a complement to methods of Hansen et al. 2011 to identify protected-area-centered-ecosystems.