The challenge of assaying landscape connectivity in a changing world: A 27-year case study in the southern Great Plains (USA) playa network

•Monitoring and managing connectivity is challenging in fluctuating landscapes.•The playa wetland network is a case study in dynamic connectivity.•Land conversion has caused many playas to no longer hold water.•Playa network topology has thinned, with fewer dispersal options.•We used relative indices to quantify effects of playa losses on landscape connectivity.