Results

Our final output shows a total of 28 “least cost” corridors connecting our eight core areas of ideal wolf habitat; these corridors often overlap (for practical purposes there are 13 corridors). They show the most suitable corridor between core areas based on our input values. These corridors are depicted based on efficiency; the centre of the corridor (yellow) is the most efficient route; travelling by this central route is the least cost (shortest distance while still being suitable based on our input values) for the wolves. Travelling along the peripheries of the corridor (purple) is less efficient; while still fulfilling our input requirements for suitability, this will be a longer, higher cost route. 

The resistance raster is (in a sense) the inverse of the wolf suitability layer used as input for the ‘Linkage Mapper’ tool. Darker areas put up the least resistance to the creation of corridors (they are the most suitable areas for wolves). Lighter areas put up the most resistance to corridor creation (they are the least suitable areas for wolves).

In general, this output shows that connectivity corridors always avoid urban areas and favour passing through protected areas. All the corridors are greater than 200 m wide (the minimum requirement for the use of a connectivity corridor by wolves (Mysłajek, Olkowska, Wronka-Tomulewicz, 2020). The location of highways on the island means that, despite the extremely high resistance of roads in our model (they are shown as highly resistant (white) in the output map), connectivity corridors must cross major roads (8 times) in order to connect core wolf habitat areas (Figure 7, yellow dots); additionally, a road passes through a core area in one instance (Figure 7 blue dot). This is clearly a major impediment to the dispersion of wolves which will likely prevent corridor/core area use if not addressed.