Abstract
Simulation time is crucial to how the risk of extinction changes with fragmentation. For short to moderate time spans the probability of extinction increases exponentially with the degree of fragmentation. When the time span considered is long enough relative to the size of the reserve, the relationship is sigmoidal. With increasing time span or decreasing reserve size the curve gets steeper. Eventually only the sheer incline and ensuing plateau of a truncated sigmoidal curve remains. Consistently, a species is more likely to survive in a continuous tract of natural habitat than in one that is subdivided into isolated parcels. Migration can greatly reduce the extinction probability of species in fragmented reserves. The persistent disagreement in the SLOSS debate is discussed, and an attempt is made to explain why conflicting recommendations have emerged.
Keywords
Related Publications
Combining probabilities of occurrence with spatial reserve design
Summary There is a great concern about the loss of biodiversity that calls for more nature protection. Unfortunately, the funding available for conservation is limited, and ofte...
Habitat fragmentation, percolation theory and the conservation of a keystone species
Many species survive in specialized habitats. When these habitats are destroyed or fragmented the threat of extinction looms. In this paper, we use percolation theory to conside...
Would climate change drive species out of reserves? An assessment of existing reserve‐selection methods
Abstract Concern for climate change has not yet been integrated in protocols for reserve selection. However if climate changes as projected, there is a possibility that current ...
Forest Fragmentation and Bird Community Dynamics: Inference at Regional Scales
With increasing fragmentation of natural areas and a dramatic reduction of forest cover in several parts of the world, quantifying the impact of such changes on species richness...
A Survey and Overview of Habitat Fragmentation Experiments
Abstract: Habitat destruction and fragmentation are the root causes of many conservation problems. We conducted a literature survey and canvassed the ecological community to ide...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1989
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 75-75
- Citations
- 275
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
Cite This
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.2307/3565875