1 - The science of understanding landscape change: setting the scene for the Tumut Fragmentation Study

Summary

The body of work that comprises the Tumut Fragmentation Study is perhaps different from other projects around the world in that a wide range of questions have been posed and many kinds of work have been undertaken in the same place. The aim of this short book is to draw together some of the key insights from this work and outline some of the lessons learned. The hope is that a synthesis from publications scattered around in different journals and books might be more than the ‘sum of its parts’. At its heart, the Tumut Fragmentation Study is all about understanding landscape change and biodiversity.

Landscape change and habitat fragmentation are processes that pose a major threat to many species. Because of this, an enormous number of studies worldwide have investigated how flora and fauna respond to them. Many of these studies have attempted to determine ways in which conservation can be more effective in areas extensively modified by humans. Themes associated with landscape change and habitat fragmentation have therefore become a major focus of conservation biology and landscape ecology (McGarigal and Cushman, 2002; Fahrig, 2003; Hobbs and Yates, 2003) and are now two of the most frequently studied processes threatening species persistence (Fazey et al., 2005; Lindenmayer and Fischer, 2006).

A huge range of studies and an enormous variety of topics fall under the broad umbrella of landscape change and habitat fragmentation. Research can be focused on single-species responses, communities or aggregate species richness. Single-species investigations often highlight the fact that each individual species responds uniquely to landscape change.