{"id":8271,"date":"2012-12-20T17:06:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-20T22:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=8271"},"modified":"2012-12-20T17:06:51","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T22:06:51","slug":"conservationcorridor-org-collects-all-things-wildlife-corridor-related","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2012\/12\/20\/conservationcorridor-org-collects-all-things-wildlife-corridor-related\/","title":{"rendered":"ConservationCorridor.org collects all things wildlife corridor-related"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest post by Heather Lessig<\/a>, a ConservationCorridor moderator and research technician in Nick Haddad\u2019s lab<\/a> at NC State<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\"conservation<\/a><\/p>\n

LANDSCAPE corridors are among the most important conservation strategies in the face of global changes such as habitat fragmentation, habitat destruction, and climate change.\u00a0 Corridors are habitats that are typically long relative to their width, and they connect fragmented patches of habitat.\u00a0 The main goal of corridors is to facilitate movement of individuals, through both dispersal and migration, so that genes can continuously be exchanged between different individuals and genetic diversity is maintained overall.<\/p>\n

This is critical for the survival of species, especially as habitat fragmentation results in isolated animals or plants disconnected from the rest of the population.\u00a0 Corridors are able to provide a literal pathway, connecting these isolated individuals to the main group by making it easy for individuals to walk (or run or fly or glide or hop or blow in the wind) to other populated areas.\u00a0 By linking populations throughout the landscape instead of leaving behind islands of good habitat in a sea of bad habitat, there is a lower chance for extinction and greater support for species richness.<\/p>\n

There are many examples of corridors. Corridors can exist naturally<\/a>, such as streams and stream banks linking isolated wetlands. The endangered St. Francis\u2019 satyr butterfly, on Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, uses stream corridors to fly between ephemeral wetlands created by abandoned beaver ponds.\u00a0 Corridors can also be constructed through management practices<\/a>, such as efforts to link national parks in Turkey and protect species such as the Caucasian lynx, brown bear, and Anatolian leopard.\u00a0 They can be artificially constructed, such as overpasses or underpasses<\/a> on highways, for the sole purpose of funneling animals or plants away from anthropogenic threat.\u00a0 Banff National Park in Canada has been a leader in constructing corridors around highways, and has seen them used by numerous large mammals including grizzly bears, wolves, moose, elk and deer.\u00a0 Corridors can be large, as is typical in large mountain ranges, or small, as is typical in urban landscapes.<\/p>\n

While recent years have seen a growth of scientific research on corridors, there is still a gap between what ecologists know about the science of corridors and its practical application in conservation management.\u00a0 In an effort to bridge this gap, we have developed a new website, ConservationCorridor.org<\/a>.\u00a0 This website it based out of North Carolina State University, and is hosted by a team of scientists there with extensive experience in corridor planning and research.\u00a0 Much of the content of the site is contributed by others outside of North Carolina State University, including managers, researchers, and students who all have some expertise in their field.\u00a0 We encourage interaction among interested individuals and welcome contributions from anyone.<\/p>\n

The aim of ConservationCorridor.org is to act as a portal for all things corridor related, from providing up-to-date news and recent scientific publications, to directing scientists and managers alike towards online tools for planning corridors.\u00a0 We summarize current information from the science community in short digests that are written by a wide range of experts in their field.\u00a0 We also provide practical information such as a glossary of terms, an extensive library of publications, general facts about corridors, and links to other websites that pertain to corridor research.<\/p>\n

Many examples of corridors already exist, as we highlight on the website.\u00a0 Large scale initiatives<\/a>, such as the Florida Wildlife Corridor and Jaguar Corridor Initiative in Central and South America, aim to support the movement of large predators, and in the process conserve high levels of diversity throughout their regions.\u00a0 Experimental corridors<\/a>, such as Savannah River Site in South Carolina, provide a wealth of scientific data showing specifically how corridors affect species\u2019 behavior and movement.\u00a0 Man-made corridors<\/a>, such as the well-publicized overpasses constructed in Banff National Park<\/a> in Canada, have returned freedom of movement for many species through an otherwise fragmented and human-dominated landscape.<\/p>\n

Recent advances in the science of corridors are contributing greatly to corridor implementation and management.\u00a0 For example, new corridors being created in both Brazil<\/a> and Turkey<\/a> promise to support a diversity of local wildlife in areas that have been highly fragmented.\u00a0 Climate change has accelerated research into how connectivity might facilitate on animal dispersal<\/a> and species range expansion<\/a>.\u00a0 Other current issues in corridor research include dam removal<\/a> along stream corridors, international<\/a> conservation efforts to create wildlife corridor plans, and new methods for assessing connectivity<\/a> such as hormonal assays.<\/p>\n

Some concerns have been expressed by scientists about the potential for corridors to do more harm than good, and they include questions over negative edge effects, increased predation rates and the spread of invasive species.\u00a0 In general, these concerns<\/a> are not strongly supported in the scientific literature.\u00a0 Overall, corridors provide a large-scale solution to keeping habitat and therefore populations linked.\u00a0 With the launch of ConservationCorridor.org, <\/em>we hope that this website will allow all people interested in corridors, from the scientific theory behind them to the details of implementing them in the landscape, to have access to the most current information available and use it to maintain connectivity throughout the landscape.<\/p>\n

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If you are interested in contributing to our website by writing a Digest, or have suggestions for future Digests, please contact us at corridor@ConservationCorridor.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

More about corridors on Ecotone:<\/p>\n