Feehan et al. 2023. Purchase College campus fragmentation on biodiversity: camera trapping 2023
By Jaclyn Feehan, Olivia DeVito,Maura Vander Putten, and Julia Marsala
Abstract
Land use and development are the main drivers of habitat fragmentation. To study this idea, we used camera trapping on Purchase College Campus to monitor species occurrence and distribution in four different fragments of various sizes. Our results show that fragmentation does influence community structure and how these species are able to use the habitat, but found that in this case the Shannon Diversity of each fragment was not attributed to the size of the fragment. There is a strong relationship in our data between the perimeter-area ratio of each fragment and its respective H value from the Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index. The fragment with the highest ratio had the least diversity, and the fragment with the lowest ratio had the most diversity. This is crucial information to put forth significant conservation efforts in small and large habitat patches alike. This information could lead to continued monitoring particularly in Blind Brook where mild development has already taken place and is typically seen as a potential area for additional development.