Habitat Fragmentation

The process, by which a natural landscape is broken up into small fragments of natural
ecosystems isolated from one another in a matrix of lands dominated by human activities, is
called habitat fragmentation.
It is a major focal point for conservation biologists, b/c
 It has degraded many landscapes
 Convert many nature reserves into isolated fragments
 It is one of the largest causes of species extinctions, along with invasive species.
 Islands have less diverse populations than large continents, especially those far from
mainlands.
 Habitat fragmentation often results in lack of food and other resources for species that
need them.
 It also eliminates habitat for species that need large unbroken blocks of habitat
Fragment size
 Small fragments (or islands) have fewer species than large fragments
There are main reasons why large fragments have more species than small fragments.
 First, a large fragment have a greater variety of environments than small fragments (e.g.,
different types of soil, a stream, a rock outcrop, an area recently disturbed by fire), and
each of these will provide niches for some species that would be absent otherwise.
 Second, a large fragment is likely to have both common species and uncommon species
(i.e., species that occur at low densities), but a small fragment is likely to have only
common species.
 The third is linked to the island biogeography theory.
 Small fragments on average, have smaller populations is more susceptible to becoming
extinct than a large population
Causes

Natural causes

 Evidence of habitat fragmentation through natural processes such as volcanism, fire, and
climate change.
  For example, habitat fragmentation of tropical rainforests in Euramerica 300 million
years ago led to a great loss of amphibian diversity, but simultaneously the drier climate
spurred on a burst of diversity among reptiles.

Human causes
Expanding human populations converting natural ecosystems into human-dominated ecosystems
by
 Dissection of natural landscape with roads
 Clear cutting
 Overgrazing
 Habitat fragmentation is frequently caused by humans when native plants cleared for
human activities such as agriculture, rural development, urbanization and the creation of
hydroelectric reservoirs.
 Habitats which were once continuous become divided into separate fragments.
 After intensive clearing, the separate fragments tend to be very small islands isolated
from each other by cropland, pasture, pavement, or even barren land.
 In the wheat belt of central western New South Wales, Australia, 90% of the native
vegetation has been cleared and over 99% of the tall grass prairie of North America has
been cleared, resulting in extreme habitat fragmentation.
Metapopulation Theory
 Metapopulation theory states that several distinct “Patches” are stabilized by their
proximity to other patches
 A Patch is an area inhabited or potentially inhabited by a member of a metapopulation.
 Patches are usually small areas of land that consist of small populations.
 The probability of species occurrence in patches is related to the following two factors:
habitat destruction and fragmentation. Because the number of individuals in these patches
is small, they can very easily become extinct. This results in demographic stochasticity,
which is a fluctuation in population size due to random demographic events.
 The rate at which re-colonization can occur is proportional to the distance between the
patches.
 The further the distance between two patches, the longer it will take for the patch to
become colonized again.
  When one patch has a jump in the number of individuals that inhabit it, the surrounding
patches will also be stabilized by the immigration from the species rich patch.
 The metapopulation is stable when the rate at which recolonization is equal the rate of
extinction.

Island Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the geographic location of a species.
Island biogeography is the study of the species composition and species richness on islands.
 Island biogeography is a study aimed at establishing and explaining the factors that affect
species diversity of a specific community.
An Island in this context is a segment of land surrounded by water.
 It is any area of habitat surrounded by areas unsuitable for the species on the island.
Other examples of "islands" include dung piles, game preserves, mountain tops, and
lakes.
Theory of Island Biogeography
 In 1967, ecologists Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson coined the Theory of Island
Biogeography.
 This theory attempted to predict the number of species that exist on a newly created
island.
 It also explained how distance and area combine to regulate the balance between
immigration and extinction in an island population.
 Immigration is the appearance of a new species in a community.
 Extinction is the disappearance of a species from a community.
 This relationship is known as "species turnover", states that the equilibrium value for the
island is proportional to the number of immigrants that come to the island, and the loss of
individuals due to emigration and extinction.
 Species richness tends toward an equilibrium value and the equilibrium value is the result
of immigration, but emigration and extinction may also occur.
 The equilibrium value (equilibrium diversity value) of an island depends on the area of
the island- the larger the area the more resources there are on the island.
  Smaller islands support smaller populations, and smaller populations are more likely to
become extinct.
1. Target Effect
 According to this larger islands have higher immigration rates because they are a bigger
target.
2. Rescue effect
 The immigration rate is higher at closer islands than on islands that are further away from
the mainland.
 The rescue effect decreases the rate of extinction due to recolonization and immigration.
Immigration is a major contributor due to increasing population size and the size of the
genetic pool. These two factors can reduce the probability that any particular species will
become extinct.
Recolonization happens through two occurrences:
 Immigration is the arrival of a new species to an area
 Invasion is the arrival of a species that already inhabits an area
The last factor that determines the equilibrium diversity value is the species richness of the
source.
Factors Affecting Theory of Island Biogeography
 The first is the effect of distance from the mainland. The mainland is where new
immigrant species originally inhabited.
 The second is the effect of island size.
 These two factors establish how many species an island can hold at equilibrium. The
equilibrium species number is the species richness of an island at which immigration
balances extinction and which remains roughly constant