The threat of habitat fragmentation and population isolation looms large over much of biodiversity in this human-dominated epoch. Species-rich South Asia is made particularly vulnerable by its high human density and anthropogenic habitat modification. Therefore, reliably estimating wildlife connectivity and the factors underpinning it become crucial in mitigating extinction risk due to isolation. We analysed peer-reviewed literature on connectivity and corridors for terrestrial mammals in South Asia to identify trends in connectivity research. We identify key research gaps and highlight future directions that may aid efforts to robustly study connectivity. We found a significant bias towards charismatic megafauna and their habitats. Methodologically, although we observed a range of approaches reflecting some of the advances and innovations in the field, several studies lacked data on animal movement/behaviour, leading to potentially biased inferences of how species disperse through human-modified landscapes. New avenues for connectivity research, though currently under-explored in South Asia, offer alternatives to the heavily used but less-reliable habitat suitability models. We highlight the advantages of landscape genetic methods that reflect effective dispersal and are made feasible through non-invasive and increasingly more cost-effective sampling methods. We also identify important gaps or areas of focus that need to be addressed going forward, including accounting for animal movement/behaviour, human impacts and landscape change for dynamic and adaptive connectivity planning for the future.

在这个人类主导的时代，栖息地破碎化和人口隔离的威胁笼罩着大部分生物多样性。物种丰富的南亚因其高人口密度和人为栖息地改变而特别脆弱。因此，可靠地估计野生动物的连通性及其支撑因素对于减轻由于孤立而导致的灭绝风险至关重要。我们分析了关于南亚陆生哺乳动物连通性和走廊的同行评审文献，以确定连通性研究的趋势。我们确定了关键的研究差距，并强调了可能有助于大力研究连通性的未来方向。我们发现对有魅力的巨型动物及其栖息地存在重大偏见。在方法论上，尽管我们观察到了一系列反映该领域一些进步和创新的方法，但一些研究缺乏关于动物运动/行为的数据，导致对物种如何通过人类改造的景观进行分散的推断可能存在偏见。连通性研究的新途径，虽然目前在南亚探索不足，但为大量使用但不太可靠的栖息地适宜性模型提供了替代方案。我们强调了景观遗传方法的优势，这些方法反映了有效的传播，并且通过非侵入性和越来越具有成本效益的采样方法变得可行。我们还确定了未来需要解决的重要差距或重点领域，包括考虑动物运动/行为，