Abstract

Barriers within streams can affect riverine species’ ability to access habitats and may reduce their population viability. Connectivity metrics attempt to quantify the impacts of barriers; however, little is known about their functioning when applied to dendritic habitats such as watersheds. Several graph-theoretic connectivity metrics were calculated on rivers originating in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These metrics were classified into two primary groups: metrics that count weighted paths through the stream network and metrics that predict the flow of organisms through a stream reach. Representative metrics from each of these categories were suggested to model the effects of dams and water intakes, respectively.

Citation

Malvadkar, U., Scatena, F.N., and Leon, M. (2013): A Comparison of Connectivity Metrics on Watersheds and Implications for Water Management . Rivers Research and Applications. DOI: 10.1002/rra.2730

This Paper/Book acknowledges NSF CZO grant support.