LarvaLink is a QGIS plugin for interactive visualization of spatial connectivity matrices, designed for marine ecology, larval dispersal modeling, and spatial planning applications.
- Visualize source and sink strength from connectivity matrices
- Interactive selection-based recalculation
- QGIS 3.34 or newer (Windows, macOS, or Linux)
- NumPy in the same Python environment QGIS uses (included with most official QGIS builds; on Linux you may need
python3-numpyfor your QGIS Python stack)
In QGIS, choose Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins, open the All tab, search for LarvaLink, and click Install plugin.
Download or build larvalink.zip, then in QGIS use Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins → Install from ZIP and select the file.
Clone the repository and copy the larvalink plugin folder into your QGIS profile’s python/plugins directory, or use pb_tool / the project Makefile to deploy locally.
- Visualize source and sink strength from connectivity matrices
- Interactive selection-based recalculation
- Designed for large connectivity models (1000+ nodes)
As you select different subsets of features, the map updates to show connections to or from (depending on the active mode) only the selected areas. When no feature is selected, the map shows connectivity to or from the entire region (for example, in To selection mode with no selection, the map emphasizes the strongest sources; in From selection mode, the strongest sinks).
- A connectivity matrix (square
.csv) with source populations in the rows and destination populations in the columns, where each cell is the strength of the connection (not row- or column-normalized). - A polygon vector layer with an integer field
idthat maps each feature to its row/column index in the matrix (0-based). IDs must be unique and within0 .. n-1for ann × nmatrix. LarvaLink addssrcandsnkfields when missing and uses them for metrics and symbology.
If you use LarvaLink in research or reports, please cite the software and the version you used, for example:
Quigley, C. (2025). LarvaLink (version 0.2.0) [QGIS plugin]. https://github.com/calquigs/larvalink
Adjust the year and version to match metadata.txt in your checkout.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.
Issue tracker: https://github.com/calquigs/larvalink/issues