Habitat Loss
Natural process aggravated by Human intervention. Leads to endangerment of native species and ultimately extinction.
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Species become extinct or endangered for a number of reasons, but the primary cause is the destruction of habitat by human activities. As different species evolve, most adapt to a specific habitat or environment that best meets their survival needs. Without this particular habitat the species may not survive. Such human activities as pollution, drainage of wetlands, conversion of shrub lands to grazing lands, cutting and clearing of forests, urbanization, coral-reef destruction, and road and dam construction have destroyed or seriously damaged and fragmented available habitats. Habitat fragmentation, the isolation and division of habitats into smaller areas, has caused plant and animal species in the remaining islands of habitat to lose contact with others of their own kind. This reduces their genetic diversity, makes them less adaptable to environmental or climatic change, and leaves them highly vulnerable to extinction. Sometimes the fragmented habitats become too small to support a sustainable population.
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