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As human population and development continue to expand, it's more important than ever to set aside corridors of undeveloped land where wildlife can travel safely, helping to ensure their long-term survival. However, a recent study by the University of Maryland reveals that current methods of designing and evaluating wildlife corridors may not be adequate to ensure wildlife protection, and suggests that Best Management Practices should include analyzing corridors with a smarter and more thorough framework.

University researchers tested different wildlife corridor designs against black bear movement data in Florida and found that each achieved very different results, and none captured all black bear movements. Additionally, their testing results varied widely depending on the evaluation method they used.

The work highlights the complexity of the issues involved and shows that, while there is no one best method, the purpose of a corridor, which can vary widely, will directly impact what approaches should be considered to achieve conservation goals. The study was published in September in the journal Landscape Ecology.

"If we don't get these corridors right, our efforts at conservation will be wasted, and we could see more human-wildlife conflicts," said Jennifer Mullinax, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at UMD, and senior author of the study.

"In Florida, black bear populations were once threatened, but have been rebounding, and continue to spread. Better methods are urgently needed, because it takes a lot of time to do it right, and in the case of endangered or threatened species, we could build corridors and still not provide protections for those animals."

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