Forest Fragmentation and Habitat Loss Is Increasing Around the World

Essay

Forest fragmentation and habitat loss is increasing around the world. Many species living in forests are "forest specialists." These specialists can only survive in certain types of trees, or in certain microclimates found only in a particular forest type; that is, they have facultative mutualisms with certain species in the forests. One of these is the white-backed woodpecker, a rare European species found in old-growth deciduous forests. Others include more than 20,000 types of wood beetles, which require specific types of oaks as their habitat. Predict what will happen to these mutualisms, and to the distribution and abundance of species, as forest fragmentation and habitat loss continues.