Habitat Loss, the Dynamics of Biodiversity, and a Perspective on Conservation

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), more than half of several biomes, including the Mediterranean and temperate forests and tropical and sub-tropical dry broadleaf forests, had been converted by 1990; in Western Europe, only 2-3% of original forests remain in natural or natural-like condition (WWF Report 2001). Habitat loss often involves deteriorating habitat quality, either due to intentional changes in land use, such as the conversion of natural boreal forests to intensively managed forests in northern Europe, or due to unintentional damage, exemplified by increasing edge effects with decreasing area and increasing fragmentation of habitat.