Extinction filters mediate the global effects of habitat fragmentation on animals

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9387
• Publication Date: 2019-12-06T00:15:30Z
• Authors: Matthew G. Betts; Christopher Wolf; Marion Pfeifer; Cristina Banks-Leite; Víctor Arroyo-Rod...; Danilo Bandini Ri...; Jos Barlow; Felix Eigenbrod; Deborah Faria; Robert J. Fletcher; Adam S. Hadley; Joseph E. Hawes; Robert D. Holt; Brian Klingbeil; Urs Kormann; Luc Lens; Taal Levi; Guido F. Medina-R...; Stephanie L. Melles; Dirk Mezger; José Carlos Moran...; C. David L. Orme; Carlos A. Peres; Benjamin T. Phalan; Anna Pidgeon; Hugh Possingham; William J. Ripple; Eleanor M. Slade; Eduardo Somarriba; Joseph A. Tobias; Jason M. Tylianakis; J. Nicolás Urbina...; Jonathon J. Valente; James I. Watling; Konstans Wells; Oliver R. Wearn; Eric Wood; Richard Young; Robert M. Ewers
• Keywords: Fragmentation; Habitat Fragmentation; Extinction debt; Extinction (optical mineralogy); Local extinction

Vulnerability to habitat fragmentation Habitat caused by human activities has consequences for the distribution and movement of organisms. Betts et al. present a global analysis how exposure affects composition ecological communities (see Perspective Hargreaves). In dataset consisting 4489 animal species, regions that historically experienced little disturbance tended harbor higher proportion species vulnerable fragmentation. Species in more frequently disturbed were resilient. High-latitude areas resilient which suggests extinction removed fragmentation-sensitive species. Thus, conservation efforts limit are particularly important tropics. Science , this issue p. 1236 ; see also 1196