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Why Are Corridors Important?

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Corridors are connections between areas of similar habitats. Their purpose is to restore connectivity between islands of similar habitat within highly fragmented landscapes. Some examples of corridors are riparian forests, hedgerows and buffer strips. To a chipmunk, even a wooden fence serves as a corridor.

Why are corridors important?
Biodiversity, all the different plants and animals and the ecological systems in which they exist, is recognized as the cornerstone to a healthy ecosystem and a healthy planet. The greatest threat to biodiversity is habitat loss with urbanization and fragmentation playing a primary role. Fragmentation results in isolation of populations which can negatively impact plant and wildlife by decreasing genetic diversity. Genetic diversity refers to all the different species within an ecosystem as well as the diversity within a species. Greater diversity within a species is associated with healthy populations better capable of long-term survival. When populations reproduce only with their own members, negative traits can surface reducing the vigor of the population and may even result in extinction of that population.
It is important to maintain or restore the biodiversity of patchy or isolated wildlife habitats, and linking fragmented areas through corridors is one way to address this problem. Wildlife corridors allow populations to move between fragmented areas which may result in the exchange of genetic material. Furthermore, as

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