Modern agricultural practices have ren-dered habitat scarce and isolated for wetland speciesthroughout the Swiss lowlands. The targeted promo-tion of practices that emb race wet arable land ratherthan drain it may be the key to establishing a robustand thriving wetland network. We test the ability of arecently developed national wetness-potential map(WP-map) to predict the spatial distributions ofwetland species of open environments (OW-species),and use the map to model dispersal corridors betweenSwitzerland’s protected wetlands. We first defined aset of OW-species by examining the occurrence ofwetland species in relation to land cover types acrossSwitzerland. Using Circuitscape, we then validated acost raster derived from the WP-map by examining thecorrelation between OW-species presence and areaswith a high probability of movement. Finally, we usedthe cost raster to generate a Swiss-wide map of least-cost corridors. Overall, OW-species were not onlymore likely to be found within wet zones of the WP-map, but the effect was amplified in well-connectedregions. The pattern was strongest amongst fauna,flora, and bryophytes but mostly absent from fungi andlichens. Our resulting corridor map highlights andranks potential routes betwee n protected wetland sitesaccording to their permeability and centrality, allow-ing spatially-explicit prioritizati on of re-wetting ini-tiatives. When combined with its logistical value inidentifying suitable areas for the restoration of wethabitat, the WP-map’s ability to explain the dispersalpatterns of the very species suitable to these habitatsmakes it an invaluable tool for land-use planners.
