The Loss Of Habitat Degradation

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

The rare Daintree Rainforest is one of the forest that has been demolishing slowly because of logging. With this ecosystem fragmentation is occurring (“All about carbon dioxide”). Ecosystem fragmentation is where the forest is separated into smaller pieces over time because of human activity (“The Daintree Rainforest Australia”). With this happening, animals habitats are becoming even smaller (“All about carbon dioxide”). With more habitat space becoming less it is causing more animals to become threatened and an endangered species (“Deforestation”). Smaller amount of habitat is also affecting the animals migration patterns, their ability to collect food, and provides less shelter (“All about carbon dioxide”). This fragmentation also makes it a struggle for animals to move from one part of the rainforest to another and it also affects the limit it has on the animals breeding population. The ecosystem fragmentation is making them become more vulnerable to extinction (“Population in Daintree”). Logging is cutting down one and one-half acres of trees each second and eighteen million acres of forest are destroyed each year. It is estimated that in over the next quarter of a century up to twenty-eight thousand animal species may become extinct all because of logging and human damned for lumber (“All about carbon

Roads act as barriers to animal movement and lead to habitat broken up . Many species will not cross the open space created by a road due to the threat of predators. Roads also cause increased animal deaths from traffic. the barrier effect can also prevent species from migrating areas where the species gone locally extinct as well as restricting access to seasonally available or widely scattered resources. Habitat separation may also divide large continuous populations into smaller more isolated populations. The smaller populations are vulnerable to genetic drift such as inbreeding depression and an increased risk of population decline and

Forests have been cut, crops planted, pastures seeded, and urban areas paved. One of the most troubling consequences of human modification of ecosystems is an ongoing loss of species and therefore a loss of biodiversity around the world. The current extinctions have a human cause: habitat loss (such as clearing of tropical rainforests); the introduction of invasive species; unregulated hunting and fishing; and pollution of water, air, and

I boarded the Amtrak the early morning of November 5th, 2016 from Davis, California to the Peytonia Slough Ecological Reserve (Peytonia Reserve) in Suisun, California. The trip to this brackish and saltwater reserve was to help me analyze the relationship between humans and wildlife in urban settings. Urban environments depend on the rehabilitation and protection of small natural areas like the Peytonia Reserve. At the Peytonia Reserve, both humans and native/non-native species live in cohabitation, which paints an accurate representation of reconciliation ecology. Humans use these natural areas, the Peytonia Reserve in this case, for recreational activities like hunting and fishing. This, in turn, benefits the wildlife that lives in the area because hunters and fishers want the environment to be well maintained in order to support their activities. I came up with the conclusion that even though humans have more to benefit from wildlife, wildlife also depends on humans to help protect and conserve their habitats.

Habitat fragmentation, loss and degradation - fragmentation, loss, and degradation of natural habitats, and has also contributed to habitat and species isolation.

When a habitat is fragmented, the amount of edge habitat increases at the expense of interior habitat. Species dependent on interior habitat suffer, while edge-dependent species, including invasive species and predators, thrive. Highly fragmented forests cannot provide the food, cover, or reproduction needs of interior forest species. Predators such as crows and raccoons and nest parasites like the brown-headed cowbird find target nests more easily

In today’s world, hardly any species of wildlife become extinct from natural causes. Europeans hunt animals to such an extent that we classify it as overhunting. We destroy their habitat, and introduce other animals that are a threat to endangered animals or are competition for resources and food. Habitat destruction is the greatest threat to both animals and plants.

It is commonly acknowledged that, in a biological ecosystem all species are closely affected each other through a food chain. However, what people don’t really recognize is how hugely one species can affect the entire ecosystem. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park depicts a vivid example how one predator can contribute to the recovery of biodiversity and its astonishing impact on physical geography.

The framework begins with the object under study, which is the content discussed in each essay, and how the objects in the essays are described. The Theobald essay discusses the lack of connectivity between different species due to human destruction of the wilderness. The abstract of this essay states, “The potential for ecosystems to adapt to climate change will be contingent on the ability of species to move and ecological processes to operate across broad landscapes” (Theobald et. al 123). Humans have been eliminating the habitats of animals because of development, and this is making it harder for the animals to adapt and move where they need to.

Biodiversity loss threatens to disrupt the function of ecosystems, with the potential of consequences for humans as well. Often this loss is measured by species extinction rates, but considerations should be made to include population diversity with measures including changes in size, number, distribution and genetic composition of population and potential implications those changes may have (Luck et al., 2003). Avise (2004) goes as far as to say biodiversity is genetic

To begin with, habitats are shrinking. The article shrinking habitats from expert space states, “ A study shows that 70 percent of forest grounds are within a half-mile from the forest edge which is causing harmful effects”. These harmful effects are animals dying due to cars and getting lost from where their habitats are. These effects are boosting the rate of extinction.Also, in

Bill Freedmen, author of “Endangered Species—Human Causes Of Extinction and Endangerment” notes, “scientists approximate that present extinction rates are 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the average natural extinction rate.” These distressing numbers should be acted upon to save the endangered species and avoid the catastrophic change to this planet if these species were to become extinct. In order to produce change, people need to recognize that habitat loss, climate change, and poaching are all factors in why our animal species are going extinct.

Habitat fragmentation is happening all around the world, even in developed countries such as the USA and UK, and is having a detrimental impact on species biodiversity (Hanski, 2015). Habitat fragmentation is a process by which a landscape is transformed into an unsuitable habitat for the present species. When a habitat becomes fragmentated this results in the habitats to develop into smaller patches and can even create patches of isolation, completely different to its original state (Fahrig, 2003). Fragmentation can occur naturally, through processes such as wildfires and windfall - however, with the constant increase in human population (7 billion in 2017), habitat fragmentation is becoming more frequent and destructive due to the rise in human land use (Oikos, 1994).

Ackerly, D.D., Adler, F., Agrawal, A. A., Arnold, E.A., Caceres, C., Doak, D.F., Hudson, J., Maron, J., Mooney, K.A., Post, E., Power, M., Stachowicz, J., Strauss, S., Turner, M.G. & Werner, E. (2007). Filling key gaps in population and community ecology. – Front. Ecology Environment. 5: 145–152.