ABSTRACT
In a remarkable display of international cooperation 150 nation states signed the Convention on Biological Diversity on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Although biodiversity is usually defined in terms of the sum total of biotic variation from the level of genes to ecosystems, the international conservation effort has typically focused on species loss. The reason for this may be relative ease with which biological species can be identified and assessed for presence or absence within a site. Biodiversity decreases when habitat is damaged, fragmented, restructured or completely destroyed; exotic species replace native species; the biophysical conditions change more rapidly than ecological communities can effectively adapt; and/or natural resources are exploited unsustainably. Habitat loss is responsible for the greatest reduction of biodiversity loss. Habitat fragmentation has become one of the key foci of biodiversity research.
