Habitat fragmentation — Science definition

Defined in 3 courses:

Splitting continuous habitat into pieces; total area can stay the same while patches become too small, disconnected, and mostly edge. (Life Science & Scientific Inquiry)
The breaking of a large, continuous habitat into smaller, isolated patches, usually by roads, farms, or development. (Life Science: Biology)
The breaking apart of a large, continuous habitat into smaller, isolated patches, which cuts off populations and shrinks the space available to them. (Physics & Environmental Science)

Where it is taught

Human Activities, Habitat & Environmental Evidence — Ecological Evidence & Environmental Design, Life Science & Scientific Inquiry, Grade 7
Human Impact & Conservation — Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions, Life Science: Biology, Grade 10
Biodiversity Loss — Conservation, Systems & Environmental Design, Physics & Environmental Science, Grade 12

In use

Even when some habitat survives, habitat fragmentation chops it into isolated islands separated by roads and fields.
Human Impact & Conservation

Questions using habitat fragmentation

Problem 1

Which measure addresses habitat fragmentation most directly?

Reducing fishing quotas
Establishing corridors connecting separated patches
Banning a pesticide
Removing an invasive plant

Answer and explanation

Establishing corridors connecting separated patches

Corridors restore movement between isolated patches, which is the specific problem fragmentation creates; the other measures address different pressures.

Problem 2

Habitat fragmentation differs from habitat loss in that fragmentation

removes all habitat
divides remaining habitat into smaller separated pieces
only affects plants
increases total habitat area

Answer and explanation

divides remaining habitat into smaller separated pieces

Fragmentation breaks habitat into isolated patches, which reduces movement between populations and raises the proportion of edge relative to interior.

Taught alongside

Elsewhere

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