Species Movement in Climate & Land-Use Change Across Appalachians
Modeling species movement, habitat connectivity, and corridor dynamics under changing climate and land-use patterns across the Appalachian mountain region.
Project Overview
Developed spatial connectivity and species movement models evaluating how climate change and land-use dynamics impact wildlife movement pathways and habitat fragmentation across the Appalachian region. This system helps conservation planners identify and protect critical climate-resilient corridors.
My Role
Lead Spatial Researcher. Responsible for processing environmental time-series data, building movement resistance surfaces, and modeling wildlife connectivity pathways.
Tools / Stack
Project Details
Implementation Roadmap
Development Process.
Gather high-resolution land cover, topographic, and climate projection layers across the Appalachian region.
Parameterize resistance surfaces based on land-use changes, canopy loss, and thermal gradients.
Run circuit theory and least-cost path models to simulate species movement and dispersal corridors.
Evaluate how projected urban development and temperature changes shift connectivity bottlenecks.
Export spatial rasters and priority maps highlighting critical migration corridors for protection.
Case Study Analysis
Challenges & Outcomes.
Quantifying complex multi-species movement patterns across broad geographical gradients with dynamic climate and land-use interactions.
Integrated circuit theory modeling (Circuitscape) with satellite remote sensing time-series data in Python and R.
Provided conservation decision-makers with high-resolution movement maps identifying critical Appalachian wildlife corridors vulnerable to climate change and fragmentation.