Author: Leach, Mark K.; Givnish, Thomas J.
Description: Recensuses of 54 Wisconsin prairie remnants showed that 8 to 60 percent of the original plant species were lost from individual remnants over a 32- to 52-year period. The pattern of species loss was consistent with the proposed effects of fire suppression caused by landscape fragmentation. Short, small-seeded, or nitrogen-fixing plants showed the heaviest losses, as did species growing in the wettest, most productive environments. The interruption of landscape-scale processes (such as wildfire) by fragmentation is an often overlooked mechanism that may be eroding biodiversity in many habitats around the world.
Subject headings: Species loss; Prairie; Remnant; Wisconsin USA; Fire suppression; Landscape fragmentation; Wildfire; Biodiversity
Publication year: 1996
Journal or book title: Science
Volume: 273
Issue: 5281
Pages: 1555-1558
Find the full text: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.273.5281.1555
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Serial number: 3910