Towards reducing biodiversity loss in fragmented habitats
When natural habitats are cleared to make way for cities, roads and agriculture, this often leaves behind “islands” of fragmented habitat that can place species at risk of extinction. Species are at risk when they find it hard to move among habitat patches to find resources and reproduce.
By combining lab experiments and mathematical modelling, researchers at McGill University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology have found a way to predict the movement of species that could guide conservation efforts to reconnect fragmented habitats.
“We found that to predict the spread of species, we need to combine knowledge of their behaviour and about the network of potential corridors that link the habitat patches”
The researchers determined that the survival of species lies in the interplay between their patterns of movement, such as how far they will travel to move between habitat fragments, and the way the corridors that link habitat patches are oriented.
They also found that the same landscape can promote the spread of certain species and impede the spread of others, depending on how far they will travel.