Wildlife corridors as a tool for conserving genetic diversity
Abstract
The accelerating pace of habitat loss and fragmentation caused by human activities such as deforestation, agriculture, infrastructure development, and urban expansion poses one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. As habitats shrink into isolated patches, wildlife populations become separated, reducing opportunities for dispersal, gene flow, and interbreeding. This isolation increases the risk of inbreeding depression, loss of adaptive potential, and eventual population decline or extinction. Wildlife corridors, defined as linear landscape features or habitat linkages that connect fragmented ecosystems, have emerged as a critical conservation strategy to mitigate these challenges. By facilitating movement between habitat patches, corridors enhance genetic exchange, reduce population isolation, and maintain ecological processes. They also provide migration routes, promote species resilience under climate change, and sustain ecosystem services. This article explores the importance of wildlife corridors as tools for conserving genetic diversity. It discusses the ecological and genetic significance of connectivity, evaluates the effectiveness of corridors in various contexts, highlights real-world examples, addresses implementation challenges, and outlines future directions for integrating corridor design into sustainable conservation and land-use planning.