Circuitscape in Julia: Empowering Dynamic Approaches to Connectivity Assessment

Kimberly R. Hall, Ranjan Anantharaman, Vincent A. Landau, Melissa Clark, Brett G. Dickson, Aaron Jones, Jim Platt, Alan Edelman and Viral B. Shah
Additional contact information
Kimberly R. Hall: North America Science, The Nature Conservancy, Haslett, MI 48840, USA
Ranjan Anantharaman: MIT Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Vincent A. Landau: Conservation Science Partners, Inc., Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
Melissa Clark: Center for Resilience Science, The Nature Conservancy, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Brett G. Dickson: Conservation Science Partners, Inc., Truckee, CA 96161, USA
Aaron Jones: The Nature Conservancy, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
Jim Platt: North America Science, The Nature Conservancy, Minneapolis, MN 55124, USA
Alan Edelman: MIT Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Viral B. Shah: Julia Computing, Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: The conservation field is experiencing a rapid increase in the amount, variety, and quality of spatial data that can help us understand species movement and landscape connectivity patterns. As interest grows in more dynamic representations of movement potential, modelers are often limited by the capacity of their analytic tools to handle these datasets. Technology developments in software and high-performance computing are rapidly emerging in many fields, but uptake within conservation may lag, as our tools or our choice of computing language can constrain our ability to keep pace. We recently updated Circuitscape, a widely used connectivity analysis tool developed by Brad McRae and Viral Shah, by implementing it in Julia, a high-performance computing language. In this initial re-code (Circuitscape 5.0) and later updates, we improved computational efficiency and parallelism, achieving major speed improvements, and enabling assessments across larger extents or with higher resolution data. Here, we reflect on the benefits to conservation of strengthening collaborations with computer scientists, and extract examples from a collection of 572 Circuitscape applications to illustrate how through a decade of repeated investment in the software, applications have been many, varied, and increasingly dynamic. Beyond empowering continued innovations in dynamic connectivity, we expect that faster run times will play an important role in facilitating co-production of connectivity assessments with stakeholders, increasing the likelihood that connectivity science will be incorporated in land use decisions.

Keywords: Circuitscape; dynamic connectivity; conservation planning; computational ecology; Earth observations; Julia programming language; landscape connectivity; Omniscape (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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