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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 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 .
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 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 ).
Deforestation is a cause of human-induced habitat action destruction, by cutting down habitats of different species in the process of removing trees. Deforestation is often done for several reasons, often for either agricultural purposes or for logging , which is the obtainment of timber and wood for use in construction or fuel. [ 7 ]
Fragmentation is the breaking up of a habitat, ecosystem, or land-use type into smaller parcels. [6] Disturbance is generally considered a natural process. Fragmentation causes land transformation, an important process in landscapes as development occurs.
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 ...