{"id":43781,"date":"2015-03-26T01:42:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T05:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=43781"},"modified":"2015-03-26T01:45:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T05:45:34","slug":"world-forest-problems-include-deadly-fragmentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/world-forest-problems-include-deadly-fragmentation\/","title":{"rendered":"World Forest Problems Include Deadly Fragmentation"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"US<\/a>When environmentalists, farmers, and loggers speak about forests, the discussion usually revolves around the issue of deforestation, which is one of the largest contributors to climate change. As James Ayre pointed out in a recent PlanetSave<\/a> article, forest cover estimates are currently a subject of hot debate because a new satellite imaging study contradicts\u00a0the slightly positive forest estimates in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization\u2019s Forest Resource Assessment<\/em>. Another important issue came\u00a0to the forefront last Friday, though, with a study by Nick Haddad of North Carolina State University and over 20 international coauthors in the journal Science Advances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Haddad notes:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are really only two big patches of intact forest left on Earth\u2014the Amazon and the Congo\u2014and they shine out like eyes from the center of the map.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The National Science Foundation funded the study.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/a><\/p>\n

Haddad’s\u00a0research confirms that more than 70% of the world\u2019s forest area now lies within about a half-mile (one kilometer) of the forest edges, and that no matter what the ecosystem (forest, prairie, patch of moss), habitat destruction causes an average of 50% of the indigenous plant and animal species to disappear within 20 years.<\/p>\n

Biodiversity dwindles from fragmentation. The core ecosystems of fragmented forests decline, and their ability to sequester carbon dioxide goes with them, as do productivity and pollination. Some fragmented areas continue to lose species for 30 years or more.<\/p>\n

\"Ongoing<\/a><\/p>\n

From the published abstract:<\/p>\n

\u201cA synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 years demonstrates that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Michelle Nijhuis pointed out in the New Yorker<\/em> last weekend, roads\u2014necessary for communication and industrial development\u2014have caused most of the world\u2019s forest fragmentation problems. You can see their extent on this estimate of worldwide forest fragmentation. And many are very new\u2014it was less than half a century ago that people cut the first paved highway across the Brazilian Amazon.<\/p>\n

According to International Energy Agency estimates, between now and 2050, more than fifteen million more miles of paved roads will be built. Coauthor William F. Laurance of Australia\u2019s James Cook University and his colleagues were able to publish an Amazon forest map in the journal Nature<\/a> late last year that indicates both areas to avoid and those where new roads could increase food production without causing extensive environmental harm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  When environmentalists, farmers, and loggers speak about forests, the discussion usually revolves around the issue of deforestation, which is one of the largest contributors to climate change. As James Ayre pointed out in a recent PlanetSave article, forest cover estimates are currently a subject of hot debate because a new satellite imaging study contradicts\u00a0the 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