Dear ERO Review Committee,…

Dear ERO Review Committee,

Strategies:

Create migration corridors
Span elevation and latitudinal gradients

Impact:

Migration corridors can have a powerful impact in protecting endangered species because they allow more effective dispersion and migration. This creates greater exchange of genetic material between isolated individuals which protects the genetic variability in these populations. Genetic variability should be protected because is vital in allowing allowing species to adapt and recover from disturbances such as disease and climate change. Greater variability will allow endangered species to have greater phenotypic plasticity, and the potential for rapid evolution in response to change.

When protecting areas, elevation and latitudinal gradients should be considered so that population interactions across these gradients are maintained. Additionally, species which use different zones depending on seasonality would benefit greatly from a conservation approach that considered their habitat at different times of the year. A latitudinal gradient conservation approach would also allow migration of populations in response to climate change, thereby reducing the potential impacts that climate change would have.

Implementation:

A landscape approach where the focus lies on maintaining the ecosystem function will be more effective than simply considering the direct species interaction structure. If you protect the ecosystem function, then you will also have captured the important aspects of the ecosystem structure. An example of a migration corridor is the Mandai Eco-Link bridge in Singapore (link attached). This is relevant in Canada where transportation paths divide species ranges and isolate populations. These structures could be an effective strategy, if implemented to protect ecosystem function, to mitigate impacts of anthropogenic activity.

Similarly, protecting areas that span various climatic zones such as: a section of prairie land from its southern range to its transitions to tundra, or following the path of a river as it spans different latitude, or a mountain range as it changes in elevation and latitude can be hugely important in protecting ecosystem function.

In conclusion, protecting species alone is not as environmentally effective or cost effective as a landscape approach which considers the ecosystem functions that protect the threatened species as well as all of the interactions which maintain it.