The number of these kinds of species increases when habitats become more fragmented. The ecosystem at the edge of a forest is different than the ecosystem in the center of a large forest. When the patch of forest is large enough, shade and humidity increase and temperature decreases with distance from the edge of the patch. Many species, including groups of songbirds and amphibians, can only thrive with the conditions present in deep forest. Different species, such as deer, raccoons, and jays can thrive in edge environments. The Nature Conservancy and Audubon Pennsylvania estimate that an average of 21.2 acres of new edge habitat is created per multi-pad well site.13 Thus, although habitat fragmentation
may have positive effects on certain species, allowing total diversity to remain high, significant habitat fragmentation almost always changes the composition of the species in an ecosystem.