Korytarze ekologiczne województwa opolskiego i ich rola w optymalizacji struktury wielkoprzestrzennego systemu obszarów chronionych

The Opole region's large-scale nature and landscape protection system is characterised by a spatial isolation of the protected areas. Identification and protection of ecological corridors is a necessary condition to optimise effective nature protection. Seventeen such corridors have been identified; they all comprise ecosystems located in the river valleys. Considerable changes in the functional and spatial structure of the corridors have been found. Large-scale agricultural use in arable land is the prevalent type of anthropopressure which restricts the possibilities for plant and animal migration. On the basis of the land use condition, the typology of the corridors has been offered. Then, following the analysis of the key assets of the protected areas connected by the corridors, their transformations and land use condition, ideas for changing their structure to improve functionality have been proposed.