Hi, I’m Jen Costanza, and I’m a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service. 
In this study, I worked with several colleagues from across the country. We mapped existing habitat linkages, or connections among habitat patches, for three wildlife species that are found in similar habitats in the South: timber rattlesnake, Rafinesque’s big-eared bat, and American black bear. 
Habitat linkages are critical for maintaining wildlife populations and helping them adapt to future conditions. And so for the three species, we wanted to know how their habitat linkages will be affected by future climate and land-use change.
The key result from our study is that even though the three species occupy similar habitats, changing climate and land-use will affect their linkages differently. The timber rattlesnake had linkages with relatively low threat from climate change, and higher threat from land-use change. So, for that species, managing threats from land-use change could be critical.
On the other hand, linkages for Rafinesque’s big-eared bats and black bears will be threatened by both climate and land-use change. For those linkages, conservation actions that help the species adapt to changing climate and land use could be important. 
We’ll need more detailed studies related to the specific management actions that could be appropriate on each specific linkage we mapped. But our study provides evidence that even species in the same habitats will require different actions to preserve their habitat linkages.