Bulldozers make way for a new housing development in Calgary. Photo: Evergreen.

A habitat is where a species lives, grows and reproduces. Plants, animals and humans depend on a variety of habitats for survival. Despite this, habitats across Canada are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Wetlands are being filled in, grasslands plowed under, forests cut down and rivers diverted and dammed. Habitat destruction and over-harvesting are major factors in species decline.

Facts

• Loss of habitat is the single greatest threat to plants and animals in Canada
• Up to half of all new plant growth each year on the planet is harvested for human use
• About half of the forests that once covered the earth are now gone
• One-third of the world's natural resources have been used up in the last 30 years.

What is causing habitat destruction?

Urban Sprawl
Urban development disrupts and divides natural habitats with the construction of new roads, subdivisions and malls. This leaves isolated fragments of ecosystems, changes pollination and seed-dispersal patterns, disrupts wildlife migration routes and reduces the size of breeding grounds.

An example of clearcutting in in New Brunswick. Photo: Evergreen.

Forest Destruction
According to Global Forest Watch, Canada contains over a third of the world's boreal forest, one-fifth of the world's temperate rainforest and one-tenth of the total global forest cover. Yet research shows that right now over 80 percent of the logging carried out in public forests is done by clearcutting, a method of harvesting timber where all trees are cut in a prescribed area. This can cause major problems with erosion, as well as the loss of sensitive plant species.

Agricultural Practices
Enormous amounts of land, once host to a wide variety of native plant species, have been fundamentally altered for modern agricultural practices. Heritage varieties of fruits and vegetables are also now very rare, as modern agriculture focuses on only a handful of food crops. According to Seeds of Diversity, 75 percent of the 100,000 vegetable and fruit varieties in North America today are endangered.

Alternative Medicine Industry
Commercial sales of herbal medicines have exploded in recent decades. As their popularity has grown, several species, including Echinacea, Ginseng, Goldenseal and Snakeroot, have become victims of over-harvesting.