The Conservation of Terrestrial Habitat and Landscape

Habitats are sites having appropriate levels of biotic and abiotic features required for a species’ survival and reproduction, and so are vital elements of species conservation. Habitat loss, fragmentation, isolation (increasing distance between similar habitat types) and degradation are threats to habitat conservation. Contemporary tools for conserving habitat for threatened species include species-specific habitat suitability models (HSMs), “GAP” analysis (relating species’ distribution to distribution of protected areas), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology employing laser scanning to measure habitat attributes, and dispersal models relating movement of individual organisms to relative “connectedness” of habitat patches. Human alteration of habitats cannot be eliminated, but can be mitigated through site-specific restrictions on human occupancy and disturbance, methods of resource extraction, and treatment of habitat following disturbance.