Research from a UNBC PhD candidate shows it’s not just primary habitats that are important when it comes to conservation.
Juan Ramirez’s research delved into the importance of the ‘matrix habitat’ in conservation. He describes the matrix habitat as the habitats surrounding an animal’s primary habitat.
“It’s what we are leaving behind after habitat loss,” Ramirez explained.
He used a Jaguar’s habitat as an example.
“They live in tropical rainforests, I’m from Colombia, for example, we have cattle ranching, something that is having a big impact in our ecosystems,” Ramirez said.
“Over time, habitat gets lost for Jaguars, we’re losing trees, we’re losing the habitat were these animals live.”
“There are some matrix environments these kinds of species can use, they sometimes go there because they can find some prey they can hunt or they can get some food.”
Ramirez said he was looking to learn about the impact of the matrix on species extinction risk, with a focus on mammals.
“What I’m showing here is that even though we are having an effect on species’ extinction risk, we can see now that if we have this kind of human activities around primary habitat, they’re not very bad.”
As an example, Ramirez says if a coffee plantation has trees on it, animals can use them.
“We can use these kind of environments for our own use, but some other species can use it too,” Ramirez explained.
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