Effective wildlife corridors are designed around the movement ecology of target species, with generic approaches often failing to deliver welfare and connectivity benefits.
Wildlife corridor design that assumes generic connectivity will benefit all species is frequently ineffective. Different species have radically different movement ecology, habitat preferences, and responses to landscape features — a corridor designed for large mammals may be completely avoided by small mammals, amphibians, or invertebrates. Species-specific design requirements are well established for many taxa: badgers, otters, bats, dormice, and amphibians each have documented preferences for underpass dimensions, substrate, lighting, and approach features that determine whether installed infrastructure is used. Post-installation monitoring using camera traps or tracking devices verifies whether corridors are achieving their intended connectivity, and informs adaptive management where they are not. The welfare benefit of a wildlife crossing that is not used is zero; investment in species-specific design and post-installation monitoring ensures that infrastructure delivers the connectivity and welfare benefits it was designed to provide.