Seventy percent of forested lands remaining in the world are within a half mile of the forest edge, where encroaching urban, suburban or agricultural influences can cause any number of harmful effects, according to a new study involving EBIO professors聽听补苍诲听聽published in Science Advances聽.
Working in conjunction with researchers from North Carolina State University, the聽听补苍诲听聽labs were part of a global survey of habitat fragmentation鈥攖he division of habitats into smaller and more isolated patches鈥攁nd found the degree of fragmentation points to trouble for a number of the world鈥檚 ecosystems, from forests to savannahs to grasslands, and the plants and animals living in them.
The study tracked seven major experiments on five continents to find that fragmented habitats reduce the diversity of plants and animals by 13 to 75 percent, with the largest negative effects found in the smallest and most isolated patches.聽 You can read more about this groundbreaking habitat study at聽聽or in聽.
