A Comparison of Connectivity Metrics on Watersheds and Implications for Water Management

Barriers within streams can affect riverine species' ability to access habitats and may reduce their population viability. Connectivity metrics attempt to quantify the impacts of barriers; however, little is known about their functioning when applied to dendritic habitats such as watersheds. Several graph‐theoretic connectivity metrics were calculated on rivers originating in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These metrics were classified into two primary groups: metrics that count weighted paths through the stream network and metrics that predict the flow of organisms through a stream reach. Representative metrics from each of these categories were suggested to model the effects of dams and water intakes, respectively. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.