Connectivity and Climate Flow - Categorized:
This map classifies climate flow groups based on the amount and concentration of flow. Each flow type suggests a different conservation strategy.
- Diffuse flow: areas that are extremely intact and consequently facilitate high levels of dispersed flow that spreads out to follow many different and alternative pathways. The conservation strategy here might be to keep these areas intact and prevent the flow from becoming concentrated.
- Concentrated flow: areas where large quantities of flow are concentrated through a narrow area. Because of their importance in maintaining flow across a larger network, these pinch points are good candidates for land conservation.
- Constrained flow: areas of low flow that are neither concentrated nor fully blocked but instead move across the landscape in a weak reticulated network. These areas present large conservation challenges. In some cases, restoring a riparian network might end up concentrating the flow and creating a linkage that will be easier to maintain over time.
- Blocked/Low flow: areas where little flow gets through and is consequently deflected around these features. Some of these might be important restoration areas where restoring native vegetation or altering road infrastructure might reestablish a historic connection.
Read the methods for your region: Eastern US, Great Lakes and Tallgrass Prairie, Great Plains, Lower Mississippi and Ozarks, Rocky Mountains and Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest, California