Pressure - Connectivity

Sources of change to the connectivity:

• Habitat removal, for a variety of things, such as buildings, foreshore development, roads, bridges and hydrological modification (e.g. reclamation, bund walls) increases habitat fragmentation and thus reduces habitat connectivity
• Occasionally human activities such as drainage modification may increase connectivity between wetlands
• Stream barriers such as dams, weirs, flood gates and culverts can have a significant effect on connectivity by physically preventing movement of biota
• Larger impoundments affect connectivity by reducing the frequency and extent of bank overtopping which under natural conditions recharges off-stream wetlands and allows biota to move in and out of the wetlands. (i.e. a loss of lateral connectivity between rivers and billabongs)
• A loss of connectivity can also result in a change in the natural movement of materials such as ions, nutrients, organic matter and sediments
• Physical barriers are not the only factors impacting connectivity, poor water quality for example can stop animals from accessing areas of habitat