Finding the potential ecological corridors for the brown bear in Romania Cover Image

Evaluarea potenţialelor coridoare ecologice pentru specia de urs brun la nivelul României
Finding the potential ecological corridors for the brown bear in Romania

Author(s): Antonio Valentin Tache, Oana Catalina Popescu, Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor
Subject(s): Environmental Geography, Applied Geography
Published by: Universitatea de Arhitectură şi Urbanism »Ion Mincu«
Keywords: ecological conectivity; ecological corridors; ARCGIS; permeability; CorridorDesign; Linkage Mapper;

Summary/Abstract: Recently, a significant fragmentation of habitats and ecosystems in the Carpathians has been identified. Hence, achieving ecological connectivity between existing protected areas can help avoiding landscape fragmentation and preserving the natural environment, including the species most affected by human disturbances, such as the brown bear. Since this species has a long distance movement, it is important to identify its migration corridors using specific methods. Several attempts were made to create fitted approaches. This article proposes a novel approach to finding the ecological corridors used by brown bears in the Romanian Carpathians by developing a GIS model using geo-spatial applications. The advantage of the approach is that it deals with a very important aspect of spatial planning, since determining the geographic location of ecological corridors could help implementing the connectivity approach in territorial plans. Further research can improve the method, translating it from the national to the local scale, and accounting for the existing conditions, in order to obtain a real protection.

  • Issue Year: 5/2020
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 37-48
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Romanian