HABITAT LOSS ANDFRAGMENTATION WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU SEE

HABITAT LOSS ANDFRAGMENTATION

WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU SEE OF HABITAT LOSS? • • FARMLANDS MALLS HIGHWAYS… DID YOU KNOW THAT APPROXIMATELY 80% OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO’S ORIGINAL FOREST COVER IS GONE • MOST OF THE HABITAT LOSS OCCURRED DURING THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY FOR FARMING. • MOST RECENTLY LAND IS LOST TO URBAN SPRAWL AND TRANSPORTATION ROUTES.

WHAT IS FRAGMENTATION? • THE DIVIDING UP OF A REGION INTO SMALLER PEICES • WHEN THIS HAPPENS LAREGER SPECIES MAY NOT HAVE ENOUGHAREA TO SURVIVE

What causes it? • Humans often change the environment through clearing native vegetation for agriculture, rural development, and urbanization, thus destroying large continuous chunks of habitat. What effect does it have? • Plants and animals are often directly destroyed as a result. It is often the speed at which we change the environment that makes it impossible for those species left to adapt. Species unable to adapt to these changes in their environment have no choice but to either migrate to a more suitable habitat, or face a reduced population, which in some cases could lead to extinction.

WHAT FACTORS WILL IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF HABITAT FRAGMENTS? 1. Size & Number-> larger areas support a larger number of species 2. Proximity & Connectedness -> The closer the ecosystems fragments are the greater chance the species will be able to use them especially if they have a corridor TAKE A LOOK AT PG 90 AND BRAINSTORM SOME IDEAS WITH A PARTNER AND ADD THEM BELOW