Landscape connectivity & fragmentation

SRS Corridor


Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered the main drivers of biodiversity decline. Landscape experiments can offer unique insights into how fragmentation impacts biodiversity and ecological processes at scales similar to management activities. Corridors are strips of habitat that connect habitat fragments. They are widely used as a conservation strategy to reduce the negative effects of fragmentation. The Savannah River Site Corridor Experiment (South Carolina, USA) is the largest corridor experiment in the world and aims to test how corridors function and influence populations and communities. The principal investigators on this project include Nick Haddad (Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University), Doug Levey (NSF), Ellen Damschen (UW-Madison), John Orrock (UW-Madison), Lars Brudvig (Michigan State), and Julian Resasco (University of Colorado). Past and ongoing work from the lab and the Savannah River Site Corridor Experiment includes exploring potential negative effects of corridors on facilitating invasive species, studying the dynamics of ant communities (in collaboration with Melissa Burt), and examining the evolutionary impacts of corridors (see relevant publications below). For more information on the Savannah River Site Corridor Experiment, watch the video below or explore additional papers from the project. You can learn more about the science of corridors at Conservation Corridor. 

The Wog Wog Habitat Fragmentation Experiment is another of the largest and longest-running fragmentation experiments. Work at Wog Wog during Julian Resasco's postdoc with Kendi Davies (University of Colorado) included how fragmentation affects species niches, the structure of arthropod food webs, and parasitism. 

Relevant publications:

  • Santos M, Vázquez DP, and Resasco J. Extinction debt of species and ecological interactions in a fragmented landscape. Proceedings B. Accepted.
  • Winfrey CC, Resasco J, and Fierer N (2025) Habitat specialization and edge effects of soil microbial communities in a fragmented landscape. Ecology. 106(4): e70072.
  • Hulting KA, Brudvig LA, Damschen EI, Levey DJ, Resasco J, Tewksbury JJ, and Haddad NM (2025) Habitat edges decrease plant reproductive output in fragmented landscapes. Journal of Ecology113: 531–541.
  • Resasco J, Burt MA, Orrock JL, Haddad NM, Shoemaker D, and Levey DJ (2023). Transient effects of corridors on polygyne fire ants over a decade. Ecological Entomology 48: 263– 268.
  • Burt M, Resasco J, Haddad NM, and Whitehead SR (2022). Ants disperse seeds farther in habitat patches with corridors. Ecosphere e4324.
  • Resasco J and Fletcher RJ Jr (2021) Accounting for connectivity alters the apparent roles of spatial and environmental processes on metacommunity assembly. Landscape Ecology. 36: 1089–1099.
  • Damschen EI, Brudvig LA, Burt MA, Fletcher RJ Jr., Haddad NM, Levey DJ, Orrock JL, Resasco J, and Tewksbury JJ. (2019) Ongoing accumulation of plant diversity through habitat connectivity in an 18-year experiment. Science 365(6460):1478-1480. DOI: 10.1126/science.aax8992.
  • Resasco J, Meta-analysis on a decade of testing corridor efficacy: what new have we learned? (2019) Current Landscape Ecology Reports​ 4(3): 61-69. DOI: 10.1007/s40823-019-00041-9.
  • Resasco J, Bitters ME, Cunningham SA, Jones HI, McKenzie VJ, and Davies KF. (2019) Experimental habitat fragmentation disrupts nematode infections in Australian skinks. Ecology 100(1): e02547. DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2547
  • Resasco J, Tuff KT, Cunningham SA, Melbourne BA, Hicks AL, Newsome SD, and Davies KF. (2018) Generalist predator’s niche shifts reveal ecosystem changes in an experimentally fragmented landscape. Ecography 41(7):1209-1219. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.03476.
  • Resasco J, Bruna EM, Haddad NM, Banks-Leite C, and Margules CR. (2017) The contribution of theory and experiments to conservation in fragmented landscapes. Ecography (Habitat Fragmentation Special Issue) 40(1): 109-118. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.02546.
  • Brudvig, LA, Leroux SJ, Albert CH, Bruna EM, Davies KF, Ewers RM, Levey DJ, Pardini R, and J Resasco. (2017) Evaluating conceptual models of landscape change. Ecography (Habitat Fragmentation Special Issue) 40(1): 74–84. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.02543.
  • Haddad NM, Brudvig LA, Damschen, Evans DM, Johnson BL, Levey DJ, Orrock JL, Resasco J, Sullivan LL, Tewksbury JJ, Wagner SA, and AJ Weldon. (2014) A review of the potential negative ecological effects of landscape corridors. Conservation Biology 28:1178-1187. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12323.
  • Resasco J, Haddad NM, Shoemaker DD, Orrock JL, Brudvig LA, EI Damschen, Tewksbury JJ, and Levey DJ. (2014) Landscape corridors can increase invasion by an exotic species and reduce diversity of native species. Ecology 95: 2033–2039. DOI: 10.1890/14-0169.1.
  • Resasco J, Levey DJ, and Damschen EI. (2012) Habitat corridors alter trophic position of fire ants. Ecosphere 3: art. 11. DOI: 10.1890/ES12-00266.1