The Relationship between Habitat Loss and Fragmentation during Urbanization: An Empirical Evaluation from 16 World Cities.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization results in habitat loss and habitat fragmentation concurrently, both influencing biodiversity and ecological processes. To evaluate these impacts, it is important to understand the relationships between habitat loss and habitat fragmentation per se (HLHF) during urbanization. The objectives of this study were two-fold: 1) to quantify the different forms of the HLHF relationship during urbanization using multiple landscape metrics, and 2) to test the validity of the HLHF relations reported in the literature. Our analysis was based on a long-term urbanization dataset (1800-2000) of 16 large cities from around the world. Habitat area was represented as the percentage of non-built-up area in the landscape, while habitat fragmentation was measured using several landscape metrics. O

SUBMITTER: Liu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4849762 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature