Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes

Sharon Collinge has taken on a challenging topic-the dismantling and potential reassembly of natural landscapes-and done it great justice. Her book is scholarly yet accessible, a must-read for teachers, students, and practitioners of conservation biology. -- Reed F. Noss, University of Central Florida The earth is increasingly an archipelago of habitat fragments in a sea of human development. What have ecologists learned about the impact of this global change? How can conservationists cope with it? Sharon Collinge's book answers these questions by intelligently synthesizing the burgeoning scientific literature on fragmentation and its effects. -- Daniel Simberloff, University of Tennessee Outstanding! This is the best contemporary effort to synthesize known information deriving from conceptual ecology and its appropriate application to the conservation of biodiversity at landscape levels. -- Larry D. Harris, author of The Fragmented Forest

Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes is critical reading for ecologists, conservation biologists, and students alike.Ask airline passengers what they see as they gaze out the window, and they will describe a fragmented landscape: a patchwork of desert, woodlands, farmlands, and developed neighborhoods. Once-contiguous forests are now subdivided; tallgrass prairies that extended for thousands of miles are now crisscrossed by highways and byways. Whether the result of naturally occurring environmental changes or the product of seemingly unchecked human development, fractured lands significantly impact the planet's biological diversity. In Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes, Sharon K. Collinge defines fragmentation, explains its various causes, and suggests ways that we can put our lands back together. Researchers have been studying the ecological effects of dismantling nature for decades. In this book, Collinge evaluates this body of research, expertly synthesizing all that is known about the ecology of fragmented landscapes. Expanding on the traditional coverage of this topic, Collinge also discusses disease ecology, restoration, conservation, and planning. Not since Richard T. T. Forman's classic Land Mosaics has there been a more comprehensive examination of landscape fragmentation. Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes is critical reading for ecologists, conservation biologists, and students alike.