Isolation and extirpations in wildlife reserves

Recent evidence implies that reserve faunal communities may experience species depletion as a result of isolation from contiguous gene pools. Although we could find no species-area relation between reserve size and the number of extant large mammal species in 13 East African savanna reserves, certain tenets of biogeographic theory still apply. Available data from one such area reveal four extirpations in recent times. This may support the hypothesis that isolated reserves may be experiencing species depletion due to isolation from surrounding natural habitat.