Evaluation of Human Influence in Determining Connectivity: The Concept of Hemeroby

Abstract

Naturalness is a concept that is handled from different perspectives in many studies conducted for different purposes. The concept of hemeroby is also used as one of the indicators by which naturalness is measured. Naturalness is an important factor in determining routes in connectivity studies. Areas where naturalness is high (with little human influence) might be areas where both diversity and mobility between patches are facilitated for wildlife. In the current study, Linkage Mapper software was used to determine the connectivity routes based on the resistance map of wildlife mobility. The hemeroby index was used to define the naturalness level of the study area. The map of naturalness is one of the main parameters to delineate ecological corridors. In the study, the hemeroby index, which is one of the naturalness indicators, was used to reveal the resistance map. © 2023 Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften.