Final answer:
Core areas need to be large enough to support species with large home ranges, such as wolves, that require extensive areas for their survival. Larger preserves provide more core habitat and support higher biodiversity. Wildlife corridors are essential for connecting smaller preserves.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ideally, core areas are large enough to meet the large habitat area requirements of species with large home ranges. Conservation preserves act as "islands" of habitat within a landscape that is largely non-habitat. For these species to thrive, a preserve must be able to support their home range sizes, which can vary from a few to hundreds of kilometers, depending on the species. For example, wolves need larger preserves compared to butterflies due to their extensive ranging behavior.
Larger preserves not only provide more core habitat, which is preferable for individual species, but they also offer a diversity of niches that support a higher number of species overall. Moreover, larger preserves are more accessible and can be found more easily by species needing to colonize new habitats.
When preserves are smaller in size, connectivity becomes essential, and this can be facilitated by creating wildlife corridors along natural features like rivers and streams. These corridors help maintain gene flow and allow individual animals to move between fragmented habitats, mimicking the effects of a larger contiguous preserve.