Abstract
Connectivity of forests was evaluated using standard grid (about 1 km grid cell) database of vegetation for Honshu, the main island of Japan. The connectivity was evaluated by calculating the index CON which expresses the number of forest grid cells surrounding the central grid among 3×3 grids. The connectivity of forests was overlaid with the distributions of 13 species of terrestrial mammals.
These mammals were classified into four groups according to the reaction of each species to the CON-value; 1) mountain-dwelling mammals, 2) semi-mountain-dwelling mammals, 3) hill-dwelling mammals, and 4) mammals showing low reactions to CON-value. For the species in groups 1), 2), and 3), the classification and reactions to CON-value corresponded well with their characteristics, suggesting the significance of evaluating forest connectivity.
