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Summary of multispecies connectivity studies included in this review. (A) Geographic distribution of reviewed studies (n = 110), (B) distribution of studies across taxonomic groups, (C) the number of co-occurrences between taxonomic groups assessed within studies.

A new systematic review published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution provides an overview of computational methods for analyzing and prioritizing the connectivity needs of multiple species. This collaboration between scientists at Habitat, Environment and Climate Change Canada, McGill University, and ApexRMS reviewed 110 published multispecies connectivity studies and found that most have been carried out in North America on mammals and birds, unveiling the under-representation of other geographic areas and taxa. The authors present a novel framework to categorize the breadth of multispecies connectivity methods based on the way they combine species-specific information along their analytical workflow. The review revealed that more work is needed to test and validate different approaches to multispecies connectivity analysis, and to establish a set of best practices that most effectively inform conservation planning.