Biological Corridors: Form, Function, and Efficacy

Rosenberg, Daniel K.; Noon, Barry R.; Meslow, E. Charles

doi:10.2307/1313208

Cited by 413 publications

(317 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The corridor concept (e.g., Forman 1983;Merriam 1991;Saunders and Hobbs 1991;Lindenmayer and Nix 1993;Merriam and Saunders 1993;Noss 1993;Bennett et al 1994;Bonner 1994;Dawson 1994;Rosenberg et al 1997;Tischendorf 1997;Haddad 1999;Brooker et al 1999;Graves et al 2007;Ockinger and Smith 2007) originated from the generalized assumption that organisms do not venture into non-habitat.…”

Section: Structural Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connectivity measures: a review

2008

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One of the central problems in contemporary ecology and conservation biology is the drastic change of landscapes induced by anthropogenic activities, resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation. For many wild living species, local extinctions of fragmented populations are common and recolonization is critical for regional survival. Successful recolonization depends on the availability of dispersing individuals and the degree of landscape connectivity. The obvious implications of landscape connectivity for conservation biology have led to a proliferation of connectivity measures. However, general relationships between landscape connectivity and landscape structure are lacking, and so are the relationships between different connectivity metrics. Consequently, there is a need to develop landscape metrics that more accurately characterize the landscape with an emphasis on the underlying processes. Here we review various definitions of landscape connectivity, explain their mathematical connotations, and make some unifying conclusions and suggestions for future research.

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Section: Structural Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connectivity measures: a review

2008

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“…P reserving and restoring connectivity for broad-scale ecological processes, such as dispersal and gene flow, has become a major conservation priority (1,2). Conservation organizations are investing considerable resources-and asking governments to do the same-to set aside land to promote connectivity (3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Circuit theory predicts gene flow in plant and animal populations

McRae

Beier²

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

813

700

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Maintaining connectivity for broad-scale ecological processes like dispersal and gene flow is essential for conserving endangered species in fragmented landscapes. However, determining which habitats should be set aside to promote connectivity has been difficult because existing models cannot incorporate effects of multiple pathways linking populations. Here, we test an ecological connectivity model that overcomes this obstacle by borrowing from electrical circuit theory. The model vastly improves gene flow predictions because it simultaneously integrates all possible pathways connecting populations. When applied to data from threatened mammal and tree species, the model consistently outperformed conventional gene flow models, revealing that barriers were less important in structuring populations than previously thought. Circuit theory now provides the best-justified method to bridge landscape and genetic data, and holds much promise in ecology, evolution, and conservation planning.Gulo gulo ͉ isolation by resistance ͉ landscape connectivity ͉ Swietenia macrophylla ͉ landscape genetics P reserving and restoring connectivity for broad-scale ecological processes, such as dispersal and gene flow, has become a major conservation priority (1, 2). Conservation organizations are investing considerable resources-and asking governments to do the same-to set aside land to promote connectivity (3). A major impediment to this goal is the difficulty in predicting how different land use, climate change, or reserve design scenarios will affect connectivity, and conservation planning decisions are often made without quantifying benefits for the ecological processes they are meant to conserve. If scarce conservation dollars are to be spent effectively, conservation biologists need clear, efficient, and reliable tools relating landscape composition and pattern to important ecological processes (4).Gene flow is a critical ecological process with conservation benefits ranging from promoting the persistence of small populations to spreading adaptive traits in changing environments (5-8). Because of these important ecological and evolutionary roles, a new and rapidly growing field-landscape genetics-is primarily dedicated to understanding and predicting how landscape characteristics affect gene flow (5). By combining genetic, computational, and spatial analytic tools unavailable a decade ago, the interdisciplinary field has yielded insights relevant not only to conservation (e.g., refs. 8 and 9), but to fields such as evolution (10), infectious disease ecology (11), and population ecology (12).Yet progress in all of these fields has been hampered by a lack of models capable of predicting gene flow from landscape structure. As a result, typical landscape genetic analyses simply detect genetic discontinuities and propose ad hoc explanations based on coincident landscape features, rather than testing a priori predictions of how such features are expected to influence genetic structure. This hinders hypothesis testing and leaves conserva...

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“…More specific movement information from free-ranging animals is especially important for forest specialists, particularly understory insectivores, because this group appears to be most sensitive to the isolation effects of fragmentation (4,11,12). Both forested corridors and fencerows of individual, living trees have been promoted as landscape elements to facilitate the movement of birds and other forest dependent animals (11,13), but no studies of birds have directly measured movement in these habitats.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Riparian corridors enhance movement of a forest specialist bird in fragmented tropical forest

Gillies

Clair

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

157

116

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Riparian corridors and fencerows are hypothesized to increase the persistence of forest animals in fragmented landscapes by facilitating movement among suitable habitat patches. This function may be critically important for forest birds, which have declined dramatically in fragmented habitats. Unfortunately, direct evidence of corridor use has been difficult to collect at landscape scales and this limits support for corridors in conservation planning. Using telemetry and handheld GPS units, we examined the movement of forest birds by translocating territorial individuals of barred antshrikes (Thamnophilus doliatus; a forest specialist) and rufous-naped wrens (Campylorhynchus rufinucha; a forest generalist) 0.7-1.9 km from their territories in the highly fragmented tropical dry forest of Costa Rica. In each translocation, the directly intervening habitat comprised 1 of 3 treatments: forested riparian corridor, linear living fencerow, or open pasture. Antshrikes returned faster and with greater success in riparian corridors relative to pasture treatments. This species also traveled more directly in riparian corridor treatments, detoured to use forested routes in the other 2 treatments, and did not use fencerows even when they led directly to their home territories. By contrast, wrens were more likely to use fencerows when returning, and return time and success were equivalent among the 3 treatments. Both species crossed fewer gaps in tree cover during riparian corridor treatments than in fencerow or pasture treatments. We conclude that antshrikes, which may be representative of other forest specialists, use forested corridors for movement in this landscape and that fencerows are avoided as movement conduits.animal movement ͉ Campylorhynchus rufinucha ͉ habitat connectivity ͉ hedgerows ͉ Thamnophilus doliatus

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Biological Corridors: Form, Function, and Efficacy

Cited by 413 publications

References 48 publications

Connectivity measures: a review

Connectivity measures: a review

Circuit theory predicts gene flow in plant and animal populations

Riparian corridors enhance movement of a forest specialist bird in fragmented tropical forest

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