noun · academic
fragmentation
/ˌfræɡmənˈteɪʃən/frag·men·TA·tion
the process of breaking or being broken into smaller parts, especially habitat being divided into isolated patches
Examples
“Habitat fragmentation reduces genetic exchange between animal populations.”
“Road construction has caused fragmentation of the forest.”
“Conservation corridors help to mitigate the effects of fragmentation.”
Band 8 sentence
“Urban expansion and new roads have accelerated habitat fragmentation, isolating populations and increasing their extinction risk.”
Collocations
- habitat fragmentation
- landscape fragmentation
Word family
Common mistakes
fragmentation of habitat→habitat fragmentation
fragmentations→fragmentation
Say it for a higher band
5breaking up→6division→7+fragmentation
Synonyms
division
Easily confused
segmentation
“While segmentation is a marketing term, fragmentation describes how a forest is split into isolated patches.”
Related words
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In Nature & Animals
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