Effectiveness of corridors: what do we know?

Abstract

The "trame verte et bleue" (the French terrestrial and aquatic ecological network) and all policies concerned with the preservation and restoration of ecological networks identify fragmentation as a major factor of degradation of landscapes functions. Preservation of corridors aims to restore connections between habitats for species. The concept of corridors, developed by landscape ecology research, is changed when used for ecological networks. Ecological knowledge on the role of corridors does not necessarily answer the expectations of policy makers but is consistent with a number of issues (e.g. moving species particularly to enable the adaptation to climate change, ecosystem services). The scientific contribution to the implementation of corridors reconnecting spaces previously isolated (by infrastructure) will be to propose protocols for assessing the effectiveness of construction of these corridors.