Local Conductance, CT River Watershed

This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation.

This dataset represents the local conductance index, which is a measure of the total potential amount of movement of plants and animals (ecological flow) through a cell from neighboring cells as a function of the ecological similarity between the focal cell and neighboring cells at the scale of one to a few kilometers. The conductance of a focal cell is affected by the amount of development and ecological similarity of its neighborhood (within one to a few kilometers) as well as the resistance of the focal cell itself (i.e., its ecological dissimilarity to neighboring cells). Conductance increases as the proportion of the neighborhood that is undeveloped increases, as the ecological similarity among neighboring cells increases, and as the ecological similarity between the focal cell and its neighbors increases. For example, a forested cell surrounded by forested cells would have high conductance, whereas a forest cell surrounded by aquatic and wetland cells would have lower conductance, and a forested cell surrounded by development would have the least conductance.