Mammal Community Dynamics in Fragmented Forest Ecosystems
Summary
Forest fragmentation transforms continuous woodlands into a mosaic of isolated patches, altering the physical environment and reshaping mammal communities at multiple scales. Reduced patch size and increased isolation restrict movement and gene flow, often leading to local extinctions of large‐bodied or specialised species. Edge effects create novel microclimates and expose interior habitats to invasive predators, hunting and human disturbance, further intensifying biotic stressors. In many regions, small generalist mammals proliferate in degraded fragments, altering seed dispersal, herbivory and parasite transmission. Changes in trophic interactions—where loss of apex predators triggers trophic cascades—can destabilise population regulation and ecosystem functioning. Functional diversity commonly declines as forest‐dependent guilds (for example frugivores or insectivores) are replaced by opportunistic species adapted to the surrounding matrix. Yet some landscapes reveal a degree of resilience: large protected remnants buffer edge effects and maintain core habitat, while structurally complex agricultural matrices partly facilitate dispersal. Understanding these dynamics is critical for predicting extinction debt and guiding restoration or connectivity measures that sustain viable mammal assemblages and essential ecosystem processes worldwide.
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Mammal Community Dynamics in Fragmented Forest Ecosystems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in mammal community dynamics in fragmented forest ecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Forest fragmentation: Division of continuous woodland into smaller, isolated patches with altered ecological processes.
Edge effect: Changes in microclimate, species interactions and disturbance regimes at habitat boundaries.
Functional diversity: Variety of species’ traits that influence ecosystem processes such as pollination or predation.
Extinction debt: Time-lagged species loss following habitat disturbance or fragmentation.
Trophic cascade: Indirect effects on lower trophic levels resulting from changes in predator abundance or behaviour.
References
- Disentangling the effects of habitat fragmentation and top-down trophic cascades on small mammal assemblages on Amazonian forest islands. Biological Conservation (2024).
- Large Protected Areas Safeguard Mammalian Functional Diversity in Human-Modified Landscapes. Sustainability (2024).
- Marked decline in forest-dependent small mammals following habitat loss and fragmentation in an Amazonian deforestation frontier. PLOS ONE (2020).
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