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The process through which ecosystem decay occurs can be long and complicated or short and hasty. Overall, it still follows some basic guidelines. First, a piece of habitat is surrounded and thus isolated by farmland or cities. Secondly, pollination of the plants immediately ceases and the number of species thins out.
Habitat fragmentation is often a cause of species becoming threatened or endangered. [25] The existence of viable habitat is critical to the survival of any species, and in many cases, the fragmentation of any remaining habitat can lead to difficult decisions for conservation biologists.
Habitat fragmentation can be caused by roads. When humans start to cut down the trees for logging, secondary roads are created that will go unused after its primary use. Once abandoned, the plants of the rainforest will find it difficult to grow back in that area. [37] Forest fragmentation also opens the path for illegal hunting.
Habitat degradation, fragmentation, and pollution are aspects of habitat destruction caused by humans that do not necessarily involve over destruction of habitat, yet result in habitat collapse. Desertification , deforestation , and coral reef degradation are specific types of habitat destruction for those areas ( deserts , forests , coral reefs ).
Fragmentation and loss of habitat have become one of the most important topics of research in ecology as they are major threats to the survival of endangered species. [ 116 ] For example, habitat loss is one of the causes in the decline of insect populations (see the section below on insects ).
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. [1] It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology .
Deforestation causes many threats to wildlife as it not only causes habitat destruction for the many animals that survive in forests, as more than 80% of the world's species live in forests but also leads to further climate change. [8] Deforestation is a main concern in the tropical forests of the world.
Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment [56] (suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation [56]), and human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and causes the extinction of many species. More specifically, habitat ...