Taking conservation connectivity to scale; strengthening resilience at landscape and seascape scales

Abstract

Across the world, multiple drivers of change are causing the degradation, fragmentation and loss of natural habitats on land and in the world’s oceans. As a result, important conservation areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services are becoming increasingly isolated within a matrix of human dominated landscapes and seascapes. This isolation can prevent the movement of organisms essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and disrupt ecological processes necessary for the provision of vital ecosystem services. Fragmentation and degradation also reduce options for adapting to global change, thereby undermining resilience of ecosystems and people.