Fragmentation refers to the process or state of breaking something into smaller, separate parts. In a general sense, it can refer to any situation where something is divided into pieces or fragments. However, in specific contexts, fragmentation may have more specialized meanings. For example, in ecology, fragmentation refers to the division of habitats into smaller and isolated patches due to human activities such as deforestation or urbanization, which can negatively impact local wildlife populations. In computer science, fragmentation refers to the process by which a file system becomes less efficient because it has too many small files, leading to wasted space on storage devices.