The role of habitat area and edge in fragmented landscapes: definitively distinct or inevitably intertwined?This review is one of a series dealing with some aspects of the impact of habitat fragmentation on animals and plants. This series is one of several virtual symposia focussing on ecological topics that will be published in the Journal from time to time.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, much research has focussed on the effects of habitat area (i.e., patch size) and edges in fragmented landscapes. We review and synthesize the literature on area and edge effects to identify whether the ecological processes influenced by patch size and edge are distinct, to summarize evidence for the relative effect of each, and to discuss how estimating their independent effects may be accomplished in field studies. Area and edge directly influence ecological processes in distinct ways, yet indirect effects can be similar, making it difficult to isolate the effects of area and edge in nature. Many studies investigating both area and edge have been confounded in their design and (or) analysis (i.e., studies did not control for one potential effect while testing for the other). Nonconfounded studies have more frequently shown support for edge effects, and comparisons between nonconfounded and confounded studies suggest that some observed area effects could be explained by edge effects. We argue that by focussing on the fundamental processes directly influenced by area and edge, and by developing more rigorous study designs and analyses that isolate their relative influence, greater insight can be gained in future investigations on habitat loss and fragmentation.