Global Forest Fragmentation

This book with 10 chapters (following an Introduction) covers the major questions of forest fragmentation as general questions affecting the world's forest biodiversity, ecosystem function and ecosystem services. These are not merely case studies from particular places in the world, confirming what we already know. Rather, these are carefully selected topics that provide a broad overview of the major questions confronting forest ecologists, conservation biologists and environmental policy makers. Among the key themes throughout the book are whether land sharing or land intensification represents a better way to protect biodiversity, if subsidies from carbon sequestration programmes such as REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) can provide a permanent solution to forest conservation and how forest fragments will be able to persist during a changing climate. An additional topic is the extent to which government policies can reverse the effects of forest fragmentation and rebuild the forest systems that can protect biodiversity. As such, this book will make excellent reading for graduate students seeking to understand the general topic of forest fragmentation and to discern which are the major questions of current concern. Furthermore, this will provide a valuable reference for environmental policy makers, while conservation biologists and ecologists can use these essays to develop a cutting-edge research agenda.