  Context - Prioritising is likely to differ depending on the species
considered for connectivity assessments, leading to a lack of consensual
decisions for territorial planning.
  Objectives - The objective was to assess the relevance of identifying
priority areas for connectivity for groups of species based on common dispersal
abilities. We aimed to assess the impact of target groups choices on predicted
priority areas.
  Method - The study was located at the Thau Lagoon territory to demonstrate
the methodological approach. Ecological niche modelling was used to quantify
species resistance and to identify suitable habitat patches. We coupled the
least-cost path methodology with circuit theory to assess species connectivity.
We classified connectivity from high to low levels and averaged the results by
dispersal groups.
  Results - We found important differences in identified priority areas between
groups with dissimilar dispersal abilities, with little overlap between highly
connected areas. We identified a gap between the level of protection of low
dispersal species and highly connected areas. We found mismatches between
existing corridors and connectivity in low dispersal species, and a greater
impact in areas of expected urban sprawl projects on favourably connected areas
for species with high dispersal capabilities.
  Conclusion - We have demonstrated that a diversity of dispersal capacity
ranges must be accounted for in order to identify ecological corridors in
programmes that aim to restore habitat connectivity at territorial levels. Our
findings are oriented to support the decisions of planning initiatives, at both
local and regional scale.
