title: Reframing landscape fragmentation's effects on ecosystem services.
abstract: Landscape structure and fragmentation have important effects on ecosystem services, with a common assumption being that fragmentation reduces service provision. This is based on fragmentation's expected effects on ecosystem service supply, but ignores how fragmentation influences the flow of services to people. Here we develop a new conceptual framework that explicitly considers the links between landscape fragmentation, the supply of services, and the flow of services to people. We argue that fragmentation's effects on ecosystem service flow can be positive or negative, and use our framework to construct testable hypotheses about the effects of fragmentation on final ecosystem service provision. Empirical efforts to apply and test this framework are critical to improving landscape management for multiple ecosystem services.
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: m.mitchell@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Matthew G E
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrés F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Suarez-Castro
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martinez-Harms
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maron
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McAlpine
authors.affiliation: Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gaston
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Kasper
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Johansen
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Jonathan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rhodes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D006802:Human Activities
keywords: biodiversity; ecosystem service flow; ecosystem service supply; ecosystem services; landscape fragmentation