A wildlife corridor is a link of wildlife habitat, generally native vegetation, which joins two or more larger areas of similar wildlife habitat.
Corridors are critical for the maintenance of ecological processes including allowing for the movement of animals and the continuation of viable populations. By providing landscape connections between larger areas of habitat, corridors enable migration, colonisation and interbreeding of plants and animals.
Corridors can consist of a sequence of stepping stones across the landscape (discontinuous areas of habitat such as paddock trees, wetlands and roadside vegetation), continuous lineal strips of vegetation and habitat (such as riparian strips, ridge lines etc.), or they maybe parts of a larger habitat area selected for its known or likely importance to local fauna.
Why are corridors important?
Habitat loss and fragmentation are the two main contributors to continuing biodiversity decline across the landscape.
A holistic approach is required across both public and private lands to protect and manage natural ecosystems and ensure connectivity between remaining habitats. When native vegetation is cleared, fragmented patches or islands are created. These patches may become increasingly cut-off from other areas of habitat resulting in many plant and animal species becoming isolated, especially when land between the patches is permanently altered for human activities. As these vegetation patches are reduced in size and become increasingly isolated, the on-going viability of ecosystems and individual populations of species within them is severely affected.
This ultimately leads to a break down in ecological processes such as species migration, dispersal, recycling of nutrients, pollination of plants and other natural functions required for ecosystem health.
Corridors play an extremely important role in the maintenance of biodiversity, but they can only partly compensate for the overall habitat loss produced by the fragmentation of the natural landscape. It is important, therefore, that vegetation remnants and vegetated corridors are maintained and enhanced as a network across all lands both private and public.
In this way private landscapes can contribute to wider landscape conservation efforts by enhancing and linking existing reserves and conservation networks.