How habitat corridors affect plant communities

Corridors, thin strips of habitat connecting otherwise isolated habitat patches, are frequently used in conservation and restoration with the goal of increasing biodiversity. The community-level consequences of corridors, however, are rarely examined using controlled experiments. Using a replicated landscape-level experiment, I show that corridors can increase plant species richness. The use of corridors is based on theory that suggests corridors increase the movement and colonization of organisms between the patches they connect, decreasing dispersal limitation. However, corridors may have unique impacts on the dispersal trajectories of different species. I examine when and how corridors are likely to alter plant species based on their life-history traits.