blog #7
Biodiversity in Forest Fragments Proves Precarious
by Dennis Normile
September 26th, 2013
Science
Science
In light of the persistence of deforestation on mainland ecosystems in modern day, scientists had been resting some of their hopes upon the potential of isolated patches / islands to support species - either facing extinction or being expelled from the mainland forest by fragmentation. However, recent studies assessing the biodiversity of these islands found that after only 5 to 7 years, the largest islands had shown a slight decrease in biodiversity while the smallest islands had lost the majority of their species. For the latter case, it was presumed that the relative size of the islands contributed to their loss of diversity, for a smaller habitat cannot so easily sustain diverse animal communities. This study was again revisited again in 2013, to show that for all of the islands, nearly every species had gone extinct, or was facing extinction. With a lack of obvious causes, the researchers supposed the impact had been a result of fragmentation and the introduction of an invasive rat. While there is yet sufficient evidence to support that the rat may have caused the decline, it is definite that the fragmentation of ecosystems leads to a loss of biodiversity.
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