Why is habitat destruction bad

Species such as black grouse are already benefiting from this expansion. Our East West Wild project seeks to build on this work by creating a large-scale corridor across this part of the Highlands. Reversing fragmentation can take decades, or even centuries. In the meantime our Red Squirrel Reintroduction Project has helped these animals recolonise former haunts. In most cases it would have been a long time before they managed to do this on their own. Supporting the work of organisations such as Trees for Life, and coming on a Conservation Week can really make a difference.

So can speaking out to prevent further fragmentation. There are also ways in which you can increase connectivity in your local area. There are around 24 million gardens in the UK and they can be a vital refuge for wildlife. Leaving some patches to go wild is really helpful in our over-sanitised landscapes. There are also lots of available resources on wildlife gardening. Our vision is of a revitalised wild forest in the Highlands of Scotland, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive.

Plant a tree Donate. Search for:. Habitat fragmentation. The problem of fragmentation Habitat fragmentation is a major problem across the Earth. Solutions Conservationists use a range of techniques to help increase connectivity in fragmented landscapes.

What can you do to help reverse fragmentation? Sources and further reading Bennett, A. Bright, P. Mammal Review. Chadwick, D. In: Hudson, W. Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity. Island Press: Washington D. Gilbert, O. Systematic maps or reviews differ primarily from traditional reviews in that the methods for the former show greater transparency Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, ; Berger-Tal et al.

Keywords were combined with appropriate Boolean operators e. The keywords in the first set of parentheses represented the ecosystem of interest, which broadly covered tropical montane forests, and the keywords in the second set of parentheses were terms related to habitat degradation.

Additionally, we also gathered articles from CAB Abstracts using the same search string as the search function allowed for nested searches as in WoS. CAB Abstracts returned hits on 5 March In both cases, the forms of articles accepted included peer-reviewed journal papers, book chapters and conference papers. We also entered the same keywords with wildcard operators in Google Search to find relevant gray-literature that was possibly missed in WoS or CAB Abstracts but without parentheses as our original nested search performed poorly with a return of only five hits.

Google Search returned 16, hits on 24 April , so we assessed the first hits as they were sorted in order of decreasing relevance. For data extraction, we used four criteria to determine if an article was suited to the purposes of our systematic map. First, at least two study sites were required, where a control e. Second, a biotic or abiotic i. Third, we broadly considered all tropical forests under frequent cloud cover or mist between 1, and 3, m a.

Last, study sites needed to occur within tropical latitudes i. However, we made a few exceptions to include studies where TMFs occurred lower than 1, m e. We avoided the inclusion of research on forests 3, m a. In total, peer-reviewed articles were considered relevant, of which were obtained from our first search using WoS, 16 were added from using CAB Abstracts and two more were included after using Google Search Table S1.

This literature was systematically assessed by reading the title, abstract, and study site descriptions in the body of each article.

We rejected studies that did not yield empirical data, such as reviews or studies that performed simulations or meta-analyses. We made the distinction between community and species interaction studies by assessing if the study examined symbiotic relationships i. For example, research that studied the effect of deforestation on species richness was considered a community study, while a study of the effect deforestation on nest predation was considered a species-interaction study.

We classified the type of habitat degradation into four categories: deforestation i. Species interactions were broadly classified as competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism or parasitism. As there were several research deficiencies highlighted in our systematic map, it was useful to consider their relative importance, which we did via consensus among the authors.

Research priorities in rank order were: 1 ecological level, 2 impact type, 3 geographic region, and 4 focal taxa. At each level, we highlighted sub-topics that deserved greater attention based on the current extent of our knowledge, and on the urgency for conservation action.

The number of articles published on TMFs in the Americas more than doubled the number in Africa, and was at least an order of magnitude higher than the number in Asia Table 1. Articles on Columbian and Ecuadorian studies were the next most numerous 43 and 39 articles, respectively. Figure 2. Number of articles published globally from to on the impacts of habitat degradation on tropical montane biodiversity in different A geographical regions, B ecological levels, C impact types, and D taxonomic groups.

F, T, and V refer to freshwater, terrestrial, and vascular respectively. Table 1. Number of published articles on the impact of habitat degradation of tropical montane forests TMF in three major regions per unit area of forest. Figure 3. Map of the number of articles published from to on the impacts of habitat degradation on tropical montane biodiversity in different countries.

The diameter of the circles is directly proportional to the number of published articles. Country names represent the highest number of articles published in the region. At the ecological level, most research focused on community ecology, followed by research on ecosystem functioning, species interactions, population ecology and population genetics Figure 2B. Most articles studied the effects of deforestation, followed by land-use change, fragmentation and edge effects Figure 2C.

Plants were the most studied taxon, followed by arthropods and birds Figure 2D. There were articles focused on community ecology, with most articles from Latin America and the fewest from Southeast Asia.

The best studied taxa were vascular plants followed by insects and birds Table 2. Most studies used species richness and species composition beta diversity to measure the impacts of environmental change, with only a few measuring functional diversity Figure 4A. Table 2. Number of articles on the impact of habitat degradation of tropical montane forests at various ecological levels distributed across regions, impact types and taxonomic groups. Figure 4. A Number of published articles on the impacts of habitat degradation on tropical montane biodiversity using different community response metrics.

The proportion of articles showing the community responses to deforestation and habitat disturbance measured using B species richness; and C species composition. The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of articles for each type of response. Of 69 articles on ecosystem services, most were from North America largely from Mexico; Table 2. Ecosystem services were broadly classified as water regulation including erosion control and purification, maintenance of soil fertility, carbon storage and sequestration, and nutrient cycling.

Each category was well-represented, with a slight bias toward articles exploring hydrological impacts and soil fertility Figure 5A. Figure 5. Number of articles published on the impacts of habitat degradation on tropical montane biodiversity studying different types of A ecosystem services, and B species interactions.

The impacts measured were almost equally represented, with edge effects slightly more studied than deforestation, land conversion or fragmentation Table 2. Studies on predation often lacked identification of the predators, due to the rarity of documenting such events.

Population ecology i. Survival rates and fitness-related traits e. To assess the conservation statuses of species in the population studies, we omitted two articles that measured demographic parameters but with a greater focus on community level responses Hitimana et al. Figure 6. Number of population ecology articles published on the impacts of habitat degradation on tropical montane biodiversity that: A measured different demographic parameters, and B studied species listed in the various categories of the IUCN Red List.

Only 12 articles described genetic studies Table 2. The earliest study from explored the impacts of habitat degradation logging on the genetics of an endemic species of oak in China Zheng et al. Other genetic studies were published from to , with six from Latin America, four from Africa and one from Asia Table 2.

Most explored the impacts of habitat degradation on a single focal species, but two drew comparisons between two species Winkler et al. Most articles examined the impact of fragmentation or edge effects on genetic diversity or gene flow, while a few studied the effects of deforestation or land-use change Table 2. A myriad of habitat degradation effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services in TMFs were reported Figure 7. Equivocal or inverse responses in species richness may be due to sampling in habitats with intermediate levels of degradation, which often show higher species richness than pristine environments e.

The main cause cited was higher resource availability e. Changes in species composition across a disturbance gradient were often reported, with resilient species more likely to be generalists e. Figure 7. Schematic of the major effects of habitat degradation on tropical montane forest across levels of organization. The degradation of TMF can be detrimental to some species interactions such as predator-prey e.

Increased predation of seedlings was observed in deforested areas due to a lack of concealment from predators Anthelme et al. Habitat degradation also interfered with mutualistic relationships between plant and soil microbes. For example, plant growth showed a positive response to soil filtrate from TMF due to the presence of beneficial soil microbes, but was negatively affected by soil filtrate from pastures Pizano et al.

Parasitic infections generally intensified with increased habitat disturbance. Amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was most prevalent in agroforests Murrieta-Galindo et al. There were a small number of TMF articles that have investigated how populations respond to habitat degradation. From these studies, habitat fragmentation was shown to reduce the population size of birds and foxes Husemann et al. For example, the effective of population sizes of the mountain white-eye Zosterops poliogaster in East Africa were higher in larger and interconnected forest patches Husemann et al.

Habitat fragmentation can also decrease fecundity in plants Somanathan and Borges, ; Franceschinelli et al. Fragmentation also resulted in reduced plant survival which could be attributed to higher desiccation and seedling predation Alvarez-Aquino et al. Trees in isolated patches were also found to be to have altered plant sex ratios apart from natural populations due to a lack of pollinator visits to female trees Somanathan and Borges, While genetic studies conducted in TMFs were rare, most revealed that populations in isolated forests had lower genetic diversity due to inbreeding and reduced gene flow Cascante-Marin et al.

For example, a lack of genetic variation in epiphytic bromeliad Guzmania monostachia populations in Costa Rican forest patches was attributed primarily to anthropogenic barriers to gene flow but could also be influenced by life history traits such as its selective breeding system and limited seed dispersal ability Cascante-Marin et al.

Habitat degradation in TMFs has been shown to disrupt several hydrological processes like affecting water conduction in soils, with reduced hydraulic conductivity in secondary forests and plantations Marin-Castro et al. In turn, this likely contributed to increased surface runoff in cultivated land Lorup and Hansen, ; Munoz-Villers and McDonnell, ; Suescun et al. With increasing surface water runoff, streamflow in degraded landscapes can be higher following rainfall Munoz-Villers et al.

Water storage was also lower in agricultural areas Guardiola-Claramonte et al. Land conversion in TMFs can lead to declines in mean carbon densities due to biomass loss De Jong et al. Impacts of land conversion on soil organic carbon SOC are less conclusive; most studies reported lower SOC in cultivated land relative to montane forest e. Such conflicting results may be attributed to variation in soil properties, age since disturbance, the type of cultivated land, and altitude Twongyirwe et al.

Habitat degradation in TMF can lead to marked changes in N storage and conversion rates. Total dissolved nitrogen was higher in plantations than in TMF catchments, probably due to more leaching Jacobs et al. Additionally, the rate of N decay from leaf litter in plantations, or in streams within pastures, was slower compared to natural TMFs Encalada et al.

Land use change alters the properties of montane soils, such as decreasing soil moisture Schrumpf et al. Soil microbial biomass generally declines as land disturbance intensifies Campos et al. Macroinvertebrate diversity in soils is lower in deforested sites Yankelevich et al. Our method of gauging research effort per country, by aggregating the number of studies stemming from the country of interest, is likely biased by the extent of TMFs available. Estimating the number of studies per area unit of TMF in each country will provide better resolution.

Another caveat to note is that community responses were tabulated without accounting for the intensity of disturbance, beyond broad classifications of habitat types. Also, our classifications did not consider spatial differences among studies, and the impacts of habitat degradation at a site, country or regional scale will vary.

Last, our assessment of articles covering ecosystem services mainly focused on those that provided supporting and regulation services, with less emphasis on provisioning and cultural services Alcamo and Bennett, A separate systematic review on the impacts of habitat degradation on the ecosystem services provided by TMFs is recommended by using additional search terms e. Average annual deforestation rates from to for montane forests in Southeast Asia ranged from 0. While roads are essential for economic development, they are a major threat to biodiversity Laurance et al.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the construction of the second East-West highway, completed in , has led to rampant deforestation in the Lojing Highlands despite regulations that restrict logging above 1, m Singh, Much of the cleared land has been converted to agricultural farms Omar and Hamzah, Alarmingly, nearly half of montane primary forest loss in Indonesia has occurred within protected areas Margono et al.

To tackle illegal logging, Malaysian and Indonesian governments have implemented schemes that award certification to producers that promote sustainable logging practices e.

However, such initiatives have not stopped deforestation of protected areas Peh et al. Imposing sanctions on non-compliant timber producers, and stricter assessments to gain certifications are needed to secure the remaining TMFs in Asia Chitra and Cetera, Research in African TMFs was also poorly represented globally, yet much of Africa's TMF is threatened from overexploitation through illegal logging and poaching, and habitat loss via land conversion to agriculture and charcoal burning Cronin et al.

Although there are designated protected areas in Africa, their coverage is inadequate and many protected sites are poorly managed Cronin et al. Further, the heavy reliance of fertilizers in farms increases nutrient loads in streams that lead to a deterioration in water quality and eutrophication Jacobs et al. Political unrest in countries such as Sudan also affect the state of natural resources, such as those in the Imatong Mountains and surrounds which are part of the Eastern Afro-montane ecosystem—considered to be one of Africa's biodiversity hot spots Uma, Two decades of civil war have decimated large swathes of forest, particularly on Mount Dongotomea, with two-thirds of the forest lost since Gorsevski, ; African Wildlife Foundation, A lack of livelihoods for returning refugees and strong dependence on natural resources has led to increased poaching for bushmeat, illegal logging and fires set deliberately for shifting agriculture Gorsevski, ; African Wildlife Foundation, Articles describing research conducted in Mexico comprised a third of all relevant papers in this mapping exercise.

Deforestation rates in the highlands of Mexico have also intensified sharply Cayuela et al. In the Chiapas highlands, the annual rate increased from 1. More recent estimates of TMF deforestation rates are lacking in Mexican TMF, and considering that the last reported deforestation rates were rising nearly two decades ago, an updated estimate is crucial to assess the current extent of forest loss and re-valuate its impact to montane biota.

These included changes in species distribution and population sizes, germination and seedling development, community structure, food webs and nutrient availability.

For example, the altitudinal distribution of several dung beetle species was higher in deforested areas where it was hotter and drier than in intact landscapes Larsen, Harsher microclimates in altered habitats negatively affected germination rates, seedling development and recruitment, which in turn hampered recolonization rates Werner and Gradstein, ; Anthelme et al.

Epiphyte species richness declined due to warmer and drier microclimates in disturbed forests Barthlott et al. Clearly, the most urgent research priority with regards the impacts of habitat degradation on TMF is to understand its effects on population genetics Figure 8. Aside from there being so few genetic studies of species occurring in this forest type, the preservation of genetic diversity is fundamental in maintaining viable populations that have adaptive potential. We suggest applying next-generation sequencing NGS in future genetic research, as inferences from NGS are drawn genome-wide Angeloni et al.

This is unlike the studies identified via our systematic map, where traditional methods like Sanger sequencing or microsatellites targeted only a few genes. Figure 8. Research priorities for conserving the world's tropical montane forest ecosystems, indicated in order of importance.

A logical group for thorough evaluation of their genetic structure are threatened or endemic species, many of which are likely to exist as small populations that are vulnerable to the effects of genetic drift. The findings from the limited number of studies conducted in TMF have shown expected results: 1 habitat fragmentation can impede gene flow and lead to a loss of genetic variation, and 2 , improving fragment connectivity can help reserve this trend.

Where possible, drawing inferences on gene flow and genetic diversity from multiple species within an ecosystem is ideal, as species responses to fragmentation can differ in concert with variation in species traits. For instance, a study of montane forest birds in Kenya revealed tighter genetic clustering among sedentary species compared to more mobile species Callens et al.

Further, generalist species are often more robust to the impacts of habitat fragmentation Janecka et al. Not yet documented in our mapping exercise are studies that examine the role played by habitat degradation and likely interactions with climate change on introgression in TMF biota.

Introgression is the hybridization of closely related species accompanied by repeated back-crossing of the hybrid with a parent species Anderson, It is pervasive in natural populations and can accelerate the loss in genetic diversity Harrison and Larson, A study in the Ethiopian highlands found that the wild gene pool for Coffea arabica had admixed with cultivars grown in close proximity to natural populations Aerts et al.

If so, montane endemics may experience genetic swamping i. Research that investigates the impacts of habitat fragmentation and edge effects on montane biota should also be prioritized, as the results will have profound implications for sustainable land-use planning e. Although fragmentation is well-known for reducing gene flow, it has far-reaching consequences at all ecological levels, including ecosystem services.

In general, fragmentation has a negative impact on communities; resulting in a decline in species richness e. However, some studies have highlighted that certain spatial characteristics such as fragment area and isolation have no effect on abundance, density or diversity Muriel and Kattan, ; Ulrich et al. While the extent of degradation may lead to conflicting results, deeper examination of species functional traits, which are indicators of habitat use, reveal that some groups within a community are more affected than others.

For instance, two avian studies independently concluded that understory insectivores and canopy frugivores were more sensitive to fragmentation than other functional groups Kattan et al. Thus, within-community differences should be accounted for in future fragmentation research in TMF.

Our current understanding of the long-term effects of fragmentation is also limited by the scarcity of relevant historical data. In the short term, diversity may not be adversely affected by fragmentation and may even increase Rey-Benayas et al. Elucidating the environmental factors driving colonization and extinction patterns will allow better comprehension of community dynamics in a fragmented landscape.

Both are hierarchical models, but the dynamic model accounts for changes in occupancy over time by including sub-models of colonization and persistence that affect the previous occurrence state.

The forces that cause humans to destroy habitat are known as drivers of habitat destruction. Demographic, economic, sociopolitical, scientific and technological, and cultural drivers all contribute to habitat destruction. Demographic drivers include the expanding human population; rate of population increase over time; spatial distribution of people in a given area urban versus rural , ecosystem type, and country; and the combined effects of poverty, age, gender, and education status of people in certain areas.

Most of the exponential human population growth worldwide is occurring in or close to biodiversity hotspots. This may explain why human population density accounts for The boom in human population and migration of people into such species-rich regions are making conservation efforts not only more urgent but also more likely to conflict with local human interests.

The high local population density in such areas is directly correlated to the poverty status of the local people. There are also feedbacks and interactions among the proximate and underlying causes of deforestation that can amplify the process. Road construction has the largest feedback effect, because it interacts with—and leads to—the establishment of new settlements and more people, which causes a growth in wood logging and food markets.

Growth in these markets, in turn, progresses the commercialization of agriculture and logging industries. When these industries become commercialized, they must become more efficient by utilizing larger or more modern machinery that often are worse on the habitat than traditional farming and logging methods. Either way, more land is cleared more rapidly for commercial markets.

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