A new UC Davis study says that people trying to help nature bydesigning corridors for wildlife need to think more naturally.
"Human beings tend to think in terms of regular, symmetricalstructures, but nature can be much more irregular," said UC Davispostdoctoral researcher Matthew Holland, the study's lead author. "Wefound that symmetrical systems of corridors may actually do less goodfor natural communities than designs with some randomness orasymmetry built in."
Corridors are physical connections between disconnected fragments ofplant and animal habitat. A corridor can be as big as a swath ofriver and forest miles wide that links two national parks, or assmall as a tunnel under an interstate highway.
Without such connections, animals cannot travel to food, water, matesand shelter. Plants cannot disperse their pollen and seeds tomaintain healthy, genetically diverse populations.
Designing and implementing corridors (sometimes called corridorecology or connectivity conservation) is a new subfield inenvironmental science. Holland's research is among the first to helpland managers and community planners designing corridors to know whatwill work and what will not.
Holland's co-author is UC Davis theoretical ecologist Alan Hastings.Hastings is one of the world's mostly highly regarded experts inusing mathematical models (sets of equations) to understand naturalsystems. His analyses have shed light on environmental issues asdiverse as salt marsh grass invasions in San Francisco Bay; climatechange and coral reefs; and marine reserves and fish populations. In2006, Hastings received the Robert H. MacArthur Award, the highesthonor given by the Ecological Society of America.
Source: University of California - Davis