Human Disturbance and Ecosystem Fragmentation in the Americas

As we stated in our introduction, this collection of chapters was intended to characterize human disturbance in relation to the fragmentation of American landscapes and to help integrate concepts from several disciplines including ecology, anthropology, theoretical ecology, and conservation biology, all of which are necessary in order to create a common and comprehensive framework for future research and conservation policy formulation. Our basic tenet is that human-driven changes in the environment, habitat fragmentation in particular, are multivariate in terms of their causal processes as well in their resulting effects upon biodiversity. Within this context, the chapters in this volume, and the conference that promoted its existence, gave rise to several emerging issues and conclusions on which we want to reflect in this closing chapter.