Length-based connectivity metrics and their ecological interpretation

Metrics that quantify habitat connectivity and fragmentation in landscape ecology are examined, as well as the relations between them and their interpretation. The radius of gyration, defined here as the root-mean-square distance of habitat patches from the centre of the habitat, has special significance from an ecological point of view that other metrics lack. This metric has been incorrectly used in the field of landscape ecology - its definition is different from its definition in every other field, causing it to lose its ecological meaning. Inconsistencies in terminology between landscape ecology and other fields raise dangers of misinterpretation of metrics.