NCEP Exercise- Forest Fragmentation and its Effects on Biological Diversity: A Mapping Exercise

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This exercise involves measuring changes in a landscape as it is fragmented. Students begin with a blank grid, an undisturbed landscape, and mark grid squares in a progression that mimics fragmentation of the landscape by human colonization. Students repeat this fragmentation process while invoking some simple land use guidelines to examine how they might influence the outcome in terms of structure of the landscape and the biodiversity within it. The resulting landscapes are compared. Next, students predict what will happen to the biota residing within the landscape as a result of fragmentation. For each scenario students calculate some key biological parameters to make predictions about the state of biological diversity and ecosystem function within the landscape. Additional teaching materials on topics relating to biodiversity conservation and ecology can be obtained free of charge by registering at the Network for Conservation Educators and Practitioners’ website (http://ncep.amnh.org).

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Primary or BEN resource type	Laboratory exercise
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Format	doc
Ecological Core Concept	Human impacts -- Habitat destruction Human impacts -- Biodiversity loss Human impacts Applied ecology
Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection	Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection	Off
Big Data Collection	Off
Editor's Choice	No
Audience	Undergraduate upper division 15-16 Undergraduate lower division 13-14
Pedagogical Use Description	This exercise has two goals. The first is to permit you to explore through a mapping exercise what happens to a forested landscape as it undergoes the fragmentation process. The second is to let you predict what will happen to the biota residing within the landscape as a result of these changes. The fundamental question we address is: Can landscapes be fragmented in such a way that permits humans and biological diversity to coexist?
Keywords	NCEP, conservation, ecosystem loss, habitat fragmentation, landscape ecology
Life science discipline (subject)	Ecology
Primary Author Controlled Name	J.P. Gibbs
Primary Author Affiliation	State University of New York
Primary Author email	biodiversity@amnh.org
Rights	Reproduction of this material is authorized by the recipient institution for non-profit/non-commercial educational use and distribution to students enrolled in course work at the institution. Copyright 2006, by the authors of the material, with license for use granted to the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation of the American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Resource Editor	Unknown
Reviewer A	Unknown
Reviewer B	Unknown
Date Of Record Submission	2009-03-25

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