The post This Overlooked Detail Outside Forests Could Be the Key to Saving Bird Species<\/a> appeared first on A-Z Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Forests are some of the most common places to find birds<\/a>, and they are typically home to many different species.\u00a0When forests are broken into smaller patches, the usual assumption is that the wildlife will slowly disappear from them as fewer trees surely mean fewer species.\u00a0However, new research suggests that size is only part of the story.\u00a0In many cases, what happens just outside the forest edge can have a surprising effect on which species survive inside it.<\/p>\n Scientists often describe the land around a forest as the \u201cmatrix\u201d. This surrounding area can be anything from farmland to open water. For a long time, it was considered little more than empty land, which was of little consequence to the animals living in the forest. However, for birds, this surrounding landscape is not an empty void; they often move into and across it in search of food and to avoid predators.<\/p>\n Some landscapes are more difficult to cross than others, as some forest birds are less inclined to risk crossing a vast open expanse. Forests surrounded by open habitats are more isolated. These ones are at a greater risk of losing some of their species, regardless of their size. However, a new study<\/a> of more than 1,000 fragmented forests found that small forest fragments surrounded by habitats that offer some degree of cover \u2013 whether a few trees, some hedges, or vegetation at field edges \u2013 can support far more bird species than similar-sized patches isolated by water.\u00a0This suggests that the persistence and diversity of bird species within forest fragments are strongly associated with the condition of the land immediately around them.<\/p>\nWhy the Surrounding Landscape Matters<\/h2>\n