Skip to main content

Local Extinctions, Habitat Fragmentation, and Ecotones

  • Chapter
Landscape Boundaries

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 92))

Abstract

In this chapter, extinctions are explored in the context of mechanisms that operate during and after habitat fragmentation of, and with frequent references to, woodlands in farmland, where we have studied the process, although information from many other situations are also used. An ecotone that is relevant to a particular species must be a gradient from more survivable to less survivable conditions. A high density of these circumstances should be conducive to observing the processes of local extinction. Fragmentation creates ecotones, expands them, and moves them. Therefore, from the information that we have about fragmentation effects, it may be possible to learn about the effects of changing ecotones on species extinctions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Addicott JF (1978) The population dynamics of aphids on fireweed: a comparison of local and metapopulations. Can J Zool 56:2554–2564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andren H, Angelstam (1988) Elevated predation rates as an edge effect in habitat islands: experimental evidence. Ecology 69:544–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrewartha HG, Birch LC (1984) The Ecological Web. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauchau V, Le Boulangé E (1990) Population biology of woodland rodents in a patchy landscape. In Le Berre M, Le Guette L (eds) Le Rongeur et l’Espace. R. Chabaud, Paris, (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky G (1987) Extinction models and mammalian persistence. In Soulé ME (ed) Viable Populations for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 35–57

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blaustein AR (1981) Population fluctuations and extinctions of small rodents in coastal southern California. Oecologia 48:71–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brittingham MC, Temple SA (1983) Have cowbirds caused forest songbirds to decline? BioScience 33:31–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JH, Kodric-Brown A (1977) Turnover rates in insular biogeography: effect of immigration on extinction. Ecology 58:445–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comins HN, Hamilton WJ, May RM (1980) Evolutionarily stable dispersal strategies. J Theoret Biol 82:205–230

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crowell KL (1973) Experimental zoogeography: introductions of mice to small islands. Am Nat 107:535–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crowell KL (1983) Islands—insight or artifact? Population dynamics and habitat utilization in insular rodents. Oikos 41:442–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • den Boer PJ (1981) On the survival of populations in a heterogeneous and variable environment. Oecologia 50:39–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR (1965) The population biology of the butterfly, Euphydras editha. II. The structure of the Jasper Ridge colony. Evolution 19:327–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR (1983) Genetics and the extinction of butterfly populations. In Schoneweld-Cox C, Chambers S, MacBryde B, Thomas W (eds) Genetics and Conservation: A Reference for Managing Wild Animal and Plant Populations. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, California, pp 152–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR, Murphy DD, Singer MC, Sherwood CB, White RR, Brown LL (1980) Extinction, reduction, stability and increase: the response of checkerspot butterfly populations to the California drought. Oecologia 46:101–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L, Merriam G (1985) Habitat patch connectivity and population survival. Ecology 66:1762–1768

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankel OH, Soulé M (1981) Conservation and Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Freemark KE (1988) Agriculture, disturbance and landscape management. In Moss MR (ed) Landscape Ecology and Management. Polyscience Publishers, Montreal, pp 77–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Freemark KE, Merriam G (1986) Importance of area and habitat heterogeneity of bird assemblages in temperate forest fragments. Biol Conserv 36:115–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz RS (1979) Consequences of insular population structure: distribution and extinction of spruce grouse populations. Oecologia 42:57–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill DE (1978) The metapopulation ecology of the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque). Ecol Monogr 48:145–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilpin ME (1987) Spatial structure and population vulnerability. In M Soulé (ed) Viable Populations for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 125–138

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gilpin ME (1989) Extinction of finite metapopulations in correlated environments. In Shorrocks B, Swingland I (eds) Living in a Patchy Environment. Oxford University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 177–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman D (1987) The demography of chance extinction. In M Soulé (ed) Viable Populations for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 11–34

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I (1989) Metapopulation dynamics: does it help to have more of the same? TREE 4:113–114

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson L (1979) On the importance of landscape heterogeneity in northern regions for the breeding population densities of homeotherms. Oikos 33:182–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson L, Hentonnen H (1988) Rodent dynamics as community processes. Trends in Ecol and Evol 3:195–200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harris LD (1984) The Fragmented Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson M, Merriam G, Wegner J (1985) Patchy environments and species survival: chipmunks in an agricultural mosaic. Biol Conserv 31:95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henein K, Merriam G (1990) The elements of connectivity where corridor quality is variable. Landscape Ecol 4:157–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huston M, DeAngelis D, Post W (1988) New computer models unify ecological theory. Bioscience 38:682–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1983) No park is an island: increase in interference from outside as park size decreases. Oikos 41:402–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kareiva P (1986) Patchiness, dispersal, and species interactions: consequences for communities of herbivorous insects. In Diamond J, Case TJ Community Ecology. Harper & Row, New York, pp 192–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Kricher JC (1973) Summer bird species diversity in relation to secondary succession on the New Jersey piedmont. Amer Midl Nat 89:121–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuno E (1981) Dispersal and the persistence of populations in unstable habitats: a theoretical note. Oecologia 49:123–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levins R (1970) Extinction In M. Gerstenhaber (ed) Some Mathematical Questions in Biology. Vol. 2. Lectures on Mathematics in the Life Sciences. American Mathematical Society, Providence, Rhode Island, pp 77–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis H (1962) Catastrophic selection as a factor in speciation. Evolution 16:257–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lomnicki A (1980) Regulation of population density due to individual difference and patchy environment. Oikos 35:185–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy TE, Rankin JM, Bierregaard RO, Jr, Brown KS, Jr, Emmons LH, Van Der Voort M (1984) Ecosystem decay of Amazon forest remnants. In Niteki MH (ed) Extinctions. University Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 295–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch JF, Whitcomb RF (1978) Effects of the insularization of the eastern deciduous forest on avifaunal density and turnover. In Marmelstein A (ed) Classification, Inventory and Analysis of Fish and Wildlife Habitat. Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, Washington, DC, pp 461–489

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin TE (1987) Artificial nest experiments: effects of nest appearance and type of predator. Condor 89:925–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin TE (1988) Habitat and area effects on forest bird assemblages: is nest predation an influence? Ecology 69:74–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maruyama T, Kimura M (1980) Genetic variability and effective population size where local extinction and recolonization of subpopulations are frequent. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 77:6710–6714

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mason LG (1977) Extinction, reproduction and population size in natural populations of ambushbugs. Evolution 31:445–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merriam G (1984) Connectivity: a fundamental ecological characteristic of landscape pattern. In Brandt J, Agger P (eds) Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Methodology in Landscape Ecological Research and Planning. Theme 1. International Association for Landscape Ecology, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark, pp 5–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriam G (1991) Corridors and connectivity: animal populations in heterogeneous environments. In Saunders D, Hobbs R (eds) Nature Conservation: The Role of Corridors. Surrey Beatty Pty, Chipping Norton, Australia, pp 133–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriam G, Kozakiewicz M, Tsuchiya E, Hawley K (1989) Barriers as boundaries for metapopulations and demes of Peromyscus leucopus in farm landscapes. Landscape Ecol 2:227–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton J, Merriam G (1981) Woodland mice in a farmland mosaic. J Appl Ecol 18:703–710

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton JD, Merriam G (1985) The rationale for conservation: problems from a virgin forest. Biol Conserv 33:133–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson IN, Nilsson SG (1982) Turnover of vascular plant species on small islands in Lake Mockeln, South Sweden 1976–1980. Oecologia 53:128–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P, Schotman A (1987) Small woods in rural landscapes as habitat islands for woodland birds. Acta Oecol, Oecol Gener 8:269–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Petterson B (1985) Extinction of an isolated population of the middle spotted woodpecker Debdrocopus medius (L.) in Sweden and its relation to general theories on extinction. Biol Conserv 32:335–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pokki J (1981) Distribution, demography and dispersal of the field vole, Microtus agrestis (L.), in the Tvarminne archipelago, Finland. Acta Zoologica Fennica 164:1–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts DC (1975) Persistence and extinction of local populations of the garden snail Helix aspersa in unfavorable environments. Oecologia 21:313–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam RE (1988) Sources, sinks and population regulation. Am Nat 132:652–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn JF, Hastings A (1988) Extinction in subdivided habitats: reply to Gilpin. Conserv Biol 2:293–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn JF, Harrison SP (1988) Effects of habitat fragmentation and isolation on species richness: evidence from biogeographic patterns. Oecologia 75:132–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rey JR, Strong DR, Jr (1983) Immigration and extinction of salt-marsh arthropods on islands: an experimental study. Oikos 41:396–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter-Dyn N, Goel NS (1972) On the extinction of a colonizing species. Theor Pop Biol 3:406–433

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rolston H, III (1988) Environmental Ethics. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1983) Rate of species turnover decreases from lower to higher organisms: a review of the data. Oikos 41:372–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW, Spiller DA (1987) High population persistence in a system with high turnover. Nature 330:474–477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer ML (1981) Minimum population sizes for species conservation. BioScience 31:131–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer ML, Samson FB (1985) Population size and extinction: a note on determining critical population size. Am Nat 125:144–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjogren P (1988) Metapopulation biology of Rana lessonae Camerano on the northern periphery of its range. PhD dissertation Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala Almquist and Wiksell, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • Slatkin M (1987) Gene flow and the geographic structure of natural populations. Science 236:787–792

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Small MF, Hunter ML (1988) Forest fragmentation and avian nest predation in forested landscapes. Oecologia 76:62–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Stenseth NC (1983) Causes and consequences of dispersal in small mammals. In Swingland IR, Greenwood JP (eds) The Ecology of Animal Movement. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK, pp 63–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Stenseth NC, Hansson L (1981) The importance of population dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes: management of vertebrate pests and some other animals. Agro-Ecosystems 7:187–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor DG (1978) The population biology of white-footed mice in an isolated and non-isolated woodlot in southeastern Ontario. MS thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Villard M-A, Freemark KE, Merriam G (in press) Metapopulation dynamics as a conceptual model for neotropical migrant birds: an empirical investigation. In Hagan JM, Johnston DW (eds) Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrijenhoek RC (1985) Animal population genetics and disturbance: the effects of local extinctions and recolonizations on heterozygosity and fitness. In Pickett STA, White PJ (eds) The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics. Academic Press, New York, pp 266–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade MJ, McCauley DE (1988) Extinction an recolonization: their effects on the genetic differentiation of local populations. Evolution 42:995–1005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wegner JF, Merriam G (1990) Spatial dynamics of a woodland rodent adapting to farmland. Biol Conserv 54:263–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RH (1972) Evolution and the measurement of species diversity. Taxon 21:213–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcove DS (1985) Nest predation in forest tracts and the decline of migratory songbirds. Ecology 66:1212–1214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox BA, Murphy DD (1983) Conservation strategy: the effects of fragmentation on extinction. Am Nat 125:879–887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson M (1981) Island Populations. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson M (1983) The land-bird community of Skokholm: ordination and turnover. Oikos 41:378–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright S (1977) Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Vol. 3. Experimental Results and Evolutionary Deductions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright SJ (1985) How isolation affects rates of turnover of species on islands. Oikos 44:331–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright SJ, Hubbell SP (1983) Stochastic extinction and reserve size: a focal species approach. Oikos 41:466–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yahner RH, Scott DP (1988) Effects of forest fragmentation on depredation of artificial nests. J Wildl Manage 52:158–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Merriam, G., Wegner, J. (1992). Local Extinctions, Habitat Fragmentation, and Ecotones. In: Hansen, A.J., di Castri, F. (eds) Landscape Boundaries. Ecological Studies, vol 92. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2804-2_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2804-2_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7677-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2804-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics