Assessment and Monitoring of Ecological Continuity with a View to Improve Ecosystem Natural Capital Accounting

In recent decades, Guinean natural landscapes have been subject to considerable pressure from human activities (agricultural expansion, mining, etc.). These pressures are driving the fragmentation of space, which is undeniably having an impact on the movement of certain species that depend on these environments. The present study focuses on a specific area of around 6,200 km
²
in Guinea. The main objective is to map the ecological continuity of forest environments to assess the quality of connectivity through a representative species of these environments, the bay duiker (Cephalophus dorsalis).To assess landscape connectivity, landscape graphs are a suitable method. The results highlight a decline in the probability of connectivity in the area, linked mainly to agricultural activities, underlining the sensitivity of connectivity indices to changes in land use. The study thus proposes to use these indicators to improve the assessment of natural capital via the "Ecosystem Natural Capital Accounts" (ENCA) method.