Fragmentation and Landscape Management

The consequences of habitat fragmentation are huge but they accumulate over time. Thomas Lovejoy uses the example of the Forest Fragments Project from the Amazon, which took three plots of land that began as forest and turned them into cattle pastures. Professor Lovejoy also notes that connection is important in land preservation; for example, urban centers need to be “greened” and have parks snaking through them so that landscapes are more continuous and habitats are less fragmented. Additionally, species must be accommodated to preserve biodiversity; this can be done with an overpass over the highway, for example.

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