The Alps are a region of high biodiversity in the middle of very densely populated central and western Europe. There are also old management regimes in the Alps that have evolved over several centuries and are slowly being changed. Many areas of the Alps are bound to extensive use by tourism. This naturally brings conflicts with wildlife and reduces the habitat available to wildlife. In this study the potential distribution, connectivity and barriers for the black grouse (Tetrao tetrix L.) are modelled. For the species distribution model MaxEnt was used and connectivity was calculated with the Conefor Sensinode 2.2 and GUIDOS.
The results show that main obstacles for large distance dispersal of black grouse are natural barriers (i.e. mountain ranges above 2500 m). Nonetheless anthropogenic pressure acts on black grouse populations on a local scale. Fragmentation of local breeding habitats by local disturbances (e.g. leisure activities and infrastructure) and for wintering habitat the frequency of perturbation are seen as problems.