Abstract
While habitat loss is a major threat to species, the effects of habitat fragmentation independent of habitat loss (fragmentation per se) are debated. Metapopulation studies often assert negative fragmentation effects, but they do not measure fragmentation per se. We evaluate the effects of fragmentation per se (patch density) across 20 years of patch occupancy patterns of the Åland Islands Glanville fritillary butterfly, Finland, a famous model system in metapopulation studies. Fragmentation per se had mainly positive effects on patch occupancy, the proportion of years occupied per patch, and patch colonization, and negative effects on patch extinction. These results suggest that fragmentation per se does not threaten persistence of the Åland Islands Glanville fritillary butterfly. Our results support the growing body of research challenging the paradigm that habitat fragmentation per se is mostly negative for species, highlighting the value of small patches for species conservation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e13017 |
| Journal | Conservation Letters |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Apr 2024 |
Funding
This work was funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to Lenore Fahrig. The authors would like to thank members of the Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Research Laboratory at Carleton University for discussions that helped motivate and improve this work.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada |