2.8 Spatial pattern and configuration analysis
To evaluate the differences in the spatial pattern and configuration of
habitat, we calculated a suite of fragmentation metrics with FRAGSTATS
(McGarigal, Cushman, & Ene, 2012). To conduct the FRAGSTATS analysis,
firstly we converted the UNICOR resistant kernel outputs into patches by
applying a cutoff value (T. N. Wasserman et al., 2013). For each
species, any values above the 10th percentile of the highest dispersal
scenario were reclassified as 1, representing habitat patches of high
connectivity. Everything else was reclassified as 0. Then, we calculated
four class level metrics using FRAGSTATS v4.2.1(McGarigal & Cushman,
2002) including: (1) the percentage of the landscape (PLAND), which
quantifies the habitat patches of high connectivity as a percentage of
the study area; (2) radius of gyration (GYRATE_AM) or correlation
length, which provides a measurement of the extensiveness of habitat
patches of high connectivity; (3) largest patch index (LPI), which
represents the percentage of the landscape comprised by the largest
habitat patch of high connectivity; (4) number of isolated patches (NP).
These metrics have been used frequently in past connectivity research
(Cushman et al., 2016; Cushman & Landguth, 2012; Elliot, Cushman,
Macdonald, & Loveridge, 2014; T. Wasserman et al., 2012).