Habitat fragmentation is a landscape-level process in which continuous habitats are subdivided into smaller, isolated patches by natural or anthropogenic disturbances, altering spatial configuration without necessarily reducing total habitat area proportionally. It modifies edge-to-core ratios, connectivity, and matrix composition, thereby disrupting ecological flows such as dispersal, gene flow, and trophic interactions. Fragmentation typically leads to smaller population sizes, increased demographic and environmental stochasticity, and heightened vulnerability to local extinction. It also drives community reassembly through edge effects, altered microclimates, and differential species responses based on dispersal ability, habitat specialization, and sensitivity to isolation, making it a central topic in landscape ecology and conservation biology.
Efforts to join up isolated plant and animal habitats across the world should also protect against unintentionally harming them, new research shows.
Ecology
Nov 13, 2025
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27
Insectivorous birds found in the understory of the Eastern Himalayas are under threat due to habitat degradation, a new study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found.
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2025
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17
A new study reveals that the impact humans are having on the Amazon rainforest is so profound it is even changing the evolutionary history and functionality of the forests.
Evolution
Nov 10, 2025
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118
University of Queensland researchers have completed the first comprehensive studies of recent fire history and koala populations across Australia's 9,300 islands.
Ecology
Nov 5, 2025
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13
A new study suggests that, between 1911 and 2022, land-use change was the primary direct cause of the loss of 75% of natural plant species on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Andreas Hemp of the University of Bayreuth, ...
Ecology
Oct 29, 2025
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54
From agriculture and urban land clearance to loss of habitat and feral animal predation, native wild animals and their food sources face a rising tide of threats caused by human activities.
Plants & Animals
Oct 23, 2025
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20
Children growing up in British cities face barriers to safe, playable spaces as financial constraints, policy misalignment and housing pressures cause planners to prioritize property over parks, finds a new study by researchers ...
Environment
Sep 10, 2025
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17
How do you build 1.5 million new homes in five years without destroying nature? Housing is unaffordable for most people, so the UK government plans to build as many homes as possible, as soon as possible. Assuming this brings ...
Environment
Sep 8, 2025
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23
Roads, buildings and farms are preventing Michigan's only rattlesnake from finding mates outside of their population. A 15-year study shows that fragmentation into smaller, more isolated patches is likely reducing the threatened ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2025
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34
North America has lost an estimated 3 billion birds since 1970—a nearly 30% drop across species—mostly due to habitat loss and degradation. So when a team of researchers repeated a bird population study they did 30 years ...
Ecology
Aug 7, 2025
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