How Shrinking Habitats Put World Ecosystems at Risk

What sort of effect does habitat fragmentation have on the environment? That's a good question and now, scientists have the answer. They've conducted an extensive study of global habitat fragmentation and have examined what problems it causes for a number of the world's ecosystems.

About 70 percent of existing forest lands are within a half-mile of the forest edge, where encroaching urban, suburban or agricultural influences can cause a number of harmful effects.

In this latest study, the researchers tracked seven major experiments on five continents that examine habitat fragmentation. They found that fragmented habitats reduce the diversity of plants and animals by 13 to 75 percent, with the largest negative effects found in the smallest and most isolated fragments of habitat.

"It's no secret that the world's forests are shrinking, so this study asked about the effects of this habitat loss and fragmentation on the remaining forests," said Nick Haddad, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The results were astounding. Nearly 20 percent of the world's remaining forest is the distance of a football field-or about 100 meters-away from a forest edge. Seventy percent of forest lands are within a half-mile of the forest edge. That means almost no forest can really be considered wilderness."

What's interesting to note is that the negative effects become even more negative with time. In fact, the researchers found that there was a 50 percent or higher decline in plant and animals species over just 20 years in some instances.

"The key results are shocking and sad," said Haddad. "Ultimately, habitat fragmentation has harmful effects that will also hurt people. This study is a wake-up call to how much we're affected ecosystems-including areas we think we're conserving."

The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

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