Habitat Integrity

All species depend on a place to live, find nourishment, and reproduce. Habitat integrity is the capacity of a place to support indigenous species with the resources necessary to complete their life cycle. Habitat loss occurs when a place can no longer support indigenous species, mostly due to the incursion of human activities such as agriculture, housing, roads, and infrastructure. Human activity accelerates the pace of habitat loss, exceeding the rate of habitat regeneration by as much as 10 times in areas of rapid urbanization and industrialization. With only half of the Earth’s original forest lands remaining, habitat integrity emerged as a global concern in the late 20th century as the disruptive impact of industrialization and urbanization on ecosystems grew increasingly apparent. In the 21st ...