The effects of forest fragmentation on biodiversity

Animals living in patches of rainforest cut off from bigger expanses of jungle by farms, roads or towns are dying off faster than previously thought, according to according to new research led by the University of East Anglia. Researchers carried out an assessment to estimate the effects of forest fragmentation and hunting on biodiversity in Brazil.
They visited 196 fragments of what was once an intact forest in eastern Brazil, now broken up by deforestation to make way for agriculture.  The study showed that each patch of forest retained only four of eighteen mammal species surveyed and that many species had disappeared in what seemed like large areas of forest.
The scientists urged better conservation measures and stated that measures to place an economic value on forests could help, for example  making them part of the fight against climate change.
“Human populations are exploding and very few areas remain untouched by the expanding cornucopia of human impacts,” said Prof Peres of the University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences. “It is therefore essential to enforce protection in areas that are nominally protected ‘on paper’. The future of tropical forest wildlife depends on it.”