Habitat amount modulates biodiversity responses to fragmentation.
Nat Ecol Evol
; 8(8): 1437-1447, 2024 Aug.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38914711
ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic habitat destruction leads to habitat loss and fragmentation, both of which interact to determine how biodiversity changes at the landscape level. While the detrimental effects of habitat loss are clear, there is a long-standing debate about the role of habitat fragmentation per se. We identify the influence of the total habitat amount lost as a modulator of the relationship between habitat fragmentation and biodiversity. Using a simple metacommunity model characterized by colonization-competition (C-C) trade-offs, we show that the magnitude of habitat loss can induce a unimodal response of biodiversity to habitat fragmentation. When habitat loss is low, habitat fragmentation promotes coexistence by suppressing competitively dominant species, while habitat fragmentation at high levels of habitat loss can shape many smaller isolated patches that drive extinctions of superior competitors. While the C-C trade-off is not the only mechanism for biodiversity maintenance, the modulation of habitat fragmentation effects by habitat loss is probably common. Reanalysis of a globally distributed dataset of fragmented animal and plant metacommunities shows an overall pattern that supports this hypothesis, suggesting a resolution to the debate regarding the relative importance of positive versus negative fragmentation effects.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Ecosistema
/
Biodiversidad
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Ecol Evol
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido