Goals
The main goal of implementing habitat corridors is to increase biodiversity. When areas of land are broken up by human interference, population numbers become unstable and many animal and plant species become endangered. By re-connecting the fragments, the population fluctuations can decrease dramatically. Corridors can contribute to three factors that stabilize a population:
- Colonization—animals are able to move and occupy new areas when food sources or other natural resources are lacking in their core habitat.
- Migration—species that relocate seasonally can do so more safely and effectively when it does not interfere with human development barriers.
- Interbreeding—animals can find new mates in neighboring regions so that genetic diversity can increase and thus have a positive impact on the overall population.
Although corridors have been implemented with the assumption that they will increase biodiversity, not enough research has been done to come to a solid conclusion. The case for corridors has been built more on intuition and much less on empirical evidence (Tewksbury et al. 2002). Another factor that needs to be taken into account is what species the corridor is intended for. Some species have reacted more positively to corridors than others.
Read more about this topic: Habitat Corridor
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