The Impact of Land-Use Change on Wildlife Habitat Selection and Population Dynamics

One of the major anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity loss and change in wildlife abundance is land use change. This paper discusses the role of land-use change in changing habitat structure through habitat loss and fragmentation, decreasing connectivity and edge effects, and the implications of land-use change effects for wildlife habitat selection, activity and migration, species distribution and population dynamics, using existing empirical research. Research has shown that animals can persist in some human-modified habitats, but the duration depends on the type of land, the amount of resources available and the level of human disturbance. Mammals are less mobile in places with a heavy human footprint. And if connections that animals use to travel from place to place are broken up, there are fewer waterbirds. And it may be some time before we actually see the effects of breaking up habitats. Response varies widely among species and taxonomic groups. Conservation should incorporate long-term population monitoring and multiscale landscape analysis, and should evaluate effectiveness using population indicators, rather than simply habitat area.