The conservation value of landscape corridors

Nick Haddad, North Carolina State University

January 25, 2010 @ 03:30 pm to 04:30 pm

101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building

Event Website

Corridors are the most popular approach to landscape-level conservation, yet, until recently, there has been little empirical evidence to support their value. My lab has empirically tested the efficacy of corridors in restoring landscape connectivity, by researching ecological interactions within the largest landscape-level experiment to test for effects of corridors. My group has found that corridors can work to increase plant and animal dispersal, and to increase plant diversity. Our experimental, observational, and theoretical research has shown how to predict positive corridor effects on dispersal based on detailed movement behaviors of animals, habitat associations, and life history traits. Further, our research has shown when corridors can have negative effects, which are nearly always created by effects of habitat edges on population demographics. In parallel to our experimental work, my group is increasingly testing connectivity effects in large, natural landscapes. Large-scale research will increase in importance as efforts to reconnect landscapes accelerate to adapt to habitat loss and a changing climate.

Contact

Kristen Granger
klg297@psu.edu
814-863-7605