Executive Summary: We provide an analysis of Sonoran Desert water network connectivity to inform managers of current conditions for target wildlife and how the connectivity will change as the landscape becomes more water limited.
Climate change is expected to lead to fragmentation of the network, increasing coalescence distance by 8% and reducing the persistence and overall number of waters on the landscape. Identification of key water sites, ranked by network connectivity metrics, are presented in Appendix B. Wetland number under our scenario of water limitation will decline by 43% reducing network resilience.
Anurans and Caudates, although varying in ability to disperse, generally experienced reduced connectivity between water sites in current and future scenarios at both daily and longer dispersal distances.
Desert Bighorn, Mule Deer, and Sonoran Pronghorn all experienced reduced connectivity between individual waters in clusters and between clusters in their respective territories. Anthropogenic water sources may prove critical to maintaining network connectivity in the future.
Gambel’s Quail also experience a reduction in connectivity within and between clusters of waters in the Sonoran Desert. Masked Bobwhite would also follow this trend if a wild population existed in its historical range in the Sonoran Desert.
