has participant causally downstream of or within habitat ecosystem fragment ecosystem fragmentation process ecosystem decay A process during which an ecosystem fragment loses its system integrity, with many of its resident ecological populations 1) losing their habitats, 2) undergoing a loss of functional and phylogenetic diversity, and 3) undergoing a subsequent genetic destabilisation through inbreeding. This process may be caused by direct anthropisation (i.e. the fragmentation of ecosystems due to the establishment of cropland) or by more natural events such as forest fires or erosion of land bridges. ecosystem process ecological community