1 Summary

The Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA), in partnership with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), developed a stream connectivity indicator to help inform the environmental planning of Alberta’s watersheds. The goals of this indicator are to:

  • Quantify the degree of connectivity within our stream systems.
  • Identify and monitor changes in anthropogenic barriers (i.e., culverts, dams, bridges) as they relate to biodiversity either directly or indirectly.
  • Incorporate variation in the location and probability of movement through different types of barriers.
  • Can be implemented at multiple spatial scales.
  • Cost effective in monitoring and reporting.

For this indicator, we chose to use the Connectivity Status Index proposed by Diebel et al. (2014). This is a biological indicator developed to identify patterns of functional connectivity on the landscape. This index provides us with the flexibility to include measures such as habitat type, quality, and species dispersal limitations, while also incorporating variable resistance values to each barrier on the stream network.

1.1 Supporting Information

This repository contains the R code (1_code/) required for reproducing the results presented on Government of Alberta’s GeoDiscover Alberta. The Stream Connectivity Indicator for Alberta is a geospatial product that presents the connectivity status of all HUC 8 watersheds in Alberta at eight time steps: 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The base GIS layers used to calculate this indicator are not available due to their size and sensitivity. Technical documentation describing the methodology and underlying data layers for this indicator can also be found on GeoDiscover Alberta.

1.2 Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge that this work would not be possible without the dedication of staff from both the Government of Alberta and ABMI.

1.3 Suggested citation

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. 2026. Development of the Stream Connectivity indicator (Version 2.0) for Alberta. Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, Alberta, Canada. (https://abbiodiversity.github.io/StreamConnectivity/)

1.4 Contact

For any questions regarding the scripts presented in this repository, GeoDiscover product, technical documentation, or about other applications of this indicator, please contact Brandon Allen (ABMI Senior Terrestrial Ecologist) at .

References

Diebel, M. W., M. Fedora, S. Cogswell, and J. R O’Hanley. 2014. “Effects of Road Crossings on Habitat Connectivity for Stream-Resident Fish.” River Research and Applications 31. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.2822.