Threatened Species Habitat and Connectivity Modelling — Highway Bypass Route Optimisation
Client - Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads
Sector - Government / Transport Infrastructure
Year - 2022
Role - Technical Lead/Geospatial Modeller and Primary Report Author — Biodiversity Australia
Scope - Multi-species habitat suitability and landscape connectivity modelling
Services - MaxEnt species distribution modelling, habitat suitability MCDA, ecological resistance surface development, least-cost corridor analysis, Circuitscape analysis, infrastructure route comparison, technical reporting
Project Overview
Andrew led the geospatial and ecological modelling component of a Queensland Government infrastructure study assessing alternative highway bypass route options while minimising impacts on threatened species across a complex and ecologically sensitive landscape.
What We Did
Gathered and processed spatial and ecological datasets for 17 threatened species across multiple taxa
Applied MaxEnt ecological niche modelling at continental scale to generate probabilistic habitat suitability surfaces for each species
Constructed regional-scale habitat suitability models using weighted multi-criteria analysis integrating vegetation, regional ecosystems, bioclimatic variables, and disturbance factors
Developed ecological resistance cost surfaces to quantify relative ecological impact across each potential bypass route
Applied Circuitscape circuit theory analysis to assess corridor connectivity, identify bottlenecks, and evaluate alternative pathways not captured by single-path analysis
Overlaid habitat suitability and Circuitscape outputs to generate a composite ecological cost analysis across all route alignments
Identified pinch points, critical linkages, and constrained sections between proposed routes
Outcome
A multi-species spatial modelling framework providing a transparent, quantitative, and ecologically defensible basis for infrastructure route selection — directly identifying alignments that minimise ecological impact while maintaining landscape connectivity. The methodology has since been applied across multiple infrastructure planning and conservation projects.