THE CONSERVATION VALUE OF SMALL, ISOLATED FRAGMENTS OF LOWLAND TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST

Deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate in the lowland tropics. in many tropical regions, rain forest Is restricted to small (<100 ha ), isolated fragments. While only the preservation of large areas of t ropical rain forest can safeguard the complete biota, recent research has shown that. a substantial number of forest species can persist for decades in fragmented forest, through large vertebrates are susceptib le to habitat fragmentation, Inevitably, small fragments will become t he last refuges of many rainforest species that are on the brink of ex tinction. In areas with little rain forest remaining, fragments ean be the 'seeds' from which to ae-establish extensive forest.