Rapid morphological change in a small mammal species after habitat fragmentation over the past half?century

Rapid Response of a Marine Mammal Species to Holocene Climate and Habitat Change

Environmental change drives demographic and evolutionary processes that determine diversity within and among species. Tracking these processes during periods of change reveals mechanisms for the establishment of populations and provides predictive data on response to potential future impacts, including those caused by anthropogenic climate change. Here we show how a highly mobile marine species...

The Interaction of Habitat Fragmentation, Plant, and Small Mammal Succession in an Old Field

We compared the density and spatial distribution of four small mammal species (Microtus ochrogaster, Peromyscus maniculatus, Sigmodon hispidus, and P. leucopus) along with general measures of an old field plant community across two successional phases (1984–1986 and 1994–1996) of an experimental study of fragmentation in eastern Kansas. During the early phase the plant community was characteriz...

Habitat fragmentation and landscape change

Broad-scale destruction and fragmentation of native vegetation is a highly visible result of human land-use throughout the world (Chapter 4). From the Atlantic Forests of South America to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, and in many other regions on Earth, much of the original vegetation now remains only as fragments amidst expanses of land committed to feeding and housing human beings. ...

Habitat Fragmentation and Species Barriers

Habitat fragmentation, rapid evolution and population persistence

Associations between extinction and habitat fragmentation have been modelled and described, but we document the first clear mechanistic link between habitat fragmentation and population persistence, demonstrating that a rapid evolutionary response to fragmentation can yield conditions wherein some populations are more vulnerable to extinction. Historical differences in the partitioning and tenu...