Green or ecological corridors: what are, types and importance

In a nutshell we can say that green corridors are regions of the territory that aim connect protected or relicid areasthat is, remaining areas of ecosystems. In itself, the greatest purpose of a biological corridor is based on maintaining the continuity of biological processes. More specifically, from the runners, try to generate safe migration and dispersion routes for biodiversityas well as limit the effects of the fragmentation of ecosystems and favor the interrelation between populations of different species.

In most cases, runners are part of the management of Protected Areas Systems. In these systems, it emphasizes that the most successful corridors are those that facilitate the natural patterns of species migration. However, the effectiveness and impact that runners produce will depend on the species in particular and the landscape in which the corridor is established.

On the other hand, green runners are usually designed, mostly, for the conservation of terrestrial flora and fauna speciesbecause their respective dispersion and migration patterns are more studied. Meanwhile, its applicability for aquatic protected areas is still in doubt, since the species movement route is less known and, in addition, it is more difficult to control some aspects such as, for example, pollution.

Despite the great advantages presented by runners in relation to species conservation, some scientists believe that ecological corridors facilitate the dissemination of pests, diseases and exotic species, as well as they constitute a ‘mortal weapon’ for living beings, since individuals in the runners are more exposed to being captured by predators or poachers than in protected areas.

We recommend you read this other article to know this topic what are the protected natural areas.

Regarding the classification of green corridors, it depends according to the vision of the different authors. Precisely, some authors classify runners for their structural characteristics, especially For the shape and size what they have. In this case, they define the runners as elongated bands of the land that they present, in proportion, more edge per area of ​​area. In contrast, other authors classify runners for its functions And, consequently, they perceive ecological corridors as an area of ​​the landscape that allows the movement and survival of the species, but not their birth.

Taking into account both issues, that is, the functions for which the runners were designed as well as the size they have, the green corridors have been classified by the World Conservation Fund for Nature (WWF) as:

• Macro-corredores: Those who present a width greater than 5 kilometers and aim to restore connections from different geographical regions.
• Biological corridors: Those who have a width that varies in the range of 1 to 5 kilometers. They are created under the purpose of maintaining two connected ecosystems.
• Conservation runners: Those who have a width less than 1 kilometer and their purpose is to establish a connection between relics, mainly when the ecosystem is deeply fragmented.

The importance of them lies in the enormous benefits of green corridors around biodiversity conservation. Among its multiple utilities we find:

• The runners allow the Displacement of living beingsfavoring the search for food and, also, the gene exchange between individuals of a species.
• In this way, thanks to the runners, populations can increase their size and even increase population genetic variability, two fundamental factors to reduce the probabilities of extinction of a species.
• Likewise, runners are becoming more and more importance due to the effects of climate change. With the increase in global temperature, many species migrate to larger latitudes and altitudes in search of habitats with more appropriate living conditions. Under this premise and the purposes of conservation of biodiversity, it is and it will be useful to develop ecological corridors in, at least, those predictable migratory routessuch as coastal lines, river valleys and mountains. We encourage you to better know what the animals that migrate and why.

If you want to read more articles similar to Green or ecological corridors: what are, types and importancewe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.