System connectivity underlies the loss of species (TSR, total species richness) for both the economic (open red circles) and the ecological (closed blue circles) linking strategies.

<p>This relationship holds for different measures of connectivity. Average degree (panel A; size of circles relative to the average number of connected sub-basins of the peninsular river networks, which increase as unconnected rivers are linked via canals), largest network size (panel B; size of circles relative to the average degree), decrease in the number of river networks (panel C; size of circles relative to the average degree), and number of networks consisting of a single sub-basin (panel D; size of circles relative to the average degree).