From roadkill to road ecology : a review of the ecological effects of roads

The impacts of roads and other infrastructure on mammal and bird populations: a meta-analysis.

Linking soils to ecosystem services — A global review

How can we manage farmlands, forests, and rangelands to respond to the triple challenge of the Anthropocene-biodiversity loss, climate change, and unsustainable land use? When managed by using biodiversity-based techniques such as agroforestry, silvopasture, diversified farming, and ecosystem-based forest management, these socioeconomic systems can help maintain biodiversity and provide habitat connectivity, thereby complementing protected areas and providing greater resilience to climate change. Simultaneously, the use of these management techniques can improve yields and profitability more sustainably, enhancing livelihoods and food security. This approach to "working lands conservation" can create landscapes that work for nature and people. However, many socioeconomic challenges impede the uptake of biodiversity-based land management practices. Although improving voluntary incentives, market instruments, environmental regulations, and governance is essential to support working lands conservation, it is community action, social movements, and broad coalitions among citizens, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies that have the power to transform how we manage land and protect the environment.

Landscapes that work for biodiversity and people

Measures aimed at conservation or restoration of ecosystems are often seen as net-cost projects by governments and businesses because they are based on incomplete and often faulty cost-benefit analyses. After screening over 200 studies, we examined the costs (94 studies) and benefits (225 studies) of ecosystem restoration projects that had sufficient reliable data in 9 different biomes ranging from coral reefs to tropical forests. Costs included capital investment and maintenance of the restoration project, and benefits were based on the monetary value of the total bundle of ecosystem services provided by the restored ecosystem. Assuming restoration is always imperfect and benefits attain only 75% of the maximum value of the reference systems over 20 years, we calculated the net present value at the social discount rates of 2% and 8%. We also conducted 2 threshold cum sensitivity analyses. Benefit-cost ratios ranged from about 0.05:1 (coral reefs and coastal systems, worst-case scenario) to as much as 35:1 (grasslands, best-case scenario). Our results provide only partial estimates of benefits at one point in time and reflect the lower limit of the welfare benefits of ecosystem restoration because both scarcity of and demand for ecosystem services is increasing and new benefits of natural ecosystems and biological diversity are being discovered. Nonetheless, when accounting for even the incomplete range of known benefits through the use of static estimates that fail to capture rising values, the majority of the restoration projects we analyzed provided net benefits and should be considered not only as profitable but also as high-yielding investments.

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Benefits of Investing in Ecosystem Restoration

https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/artsci/geography-planning-environment/docs/jaeger/publications/more6-JaegeretalEcolMod.pdf

Predicting when animal populations are at risk from roads: An interactive model of road avoidance behavior

A key goal in road ecology is to determine which species are most vulnerable to the negative effects of roads on population persistence. Theory suggests that species that avoid roads are less likely to be negatively affected by roads than those that do not avoid roads. The goal of this study was to take a step toward testing this prediction by evaluating the behavioral response to roads and traffic of a species whose populations are known to be negatively affected by roads and traffic, the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens). The authors studied the movement patterns of northern leopard frogs during their spring migration from overwintering sites in a river to various breeding ponds that were disconnected from the river by roads. The authors performed short-distance translocations of migrating frogs, followed them visually, and documented their movement coordinates following each hop, both near the roads and in non-roaded areas. They found that frogs took longer to move near roads with more traffic and that their movement was quickest in areas without roads nearby. Frogs tended to deviate more from a straight-line course when they were released near roads than compared with control areas, but this response was independent of traffic volume. All frogs released near roads attempted to cross the road. On very low traffic roads (10.86 mean vehicles per hour), 94% of frogs crossed the road successfully, whereas at higher traffic roads (58.29 mean vehicles per hour) 72% were successful. The results suggest that frog's inability to avoid going onto roads and their slow movement combine to make them particularly vulnerable to road mortality, which likely explains the strong negative effects of roads on frog population abundance. Conservation efforts should focus on preventing frogs from accessing the road surface through the use of drift fencing and culverts.

/pdf/behavioral-responses-of-northern-leopard-frogs-rana-pipiens-2uttaenib9.pdf

Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence

A key goal in road ecology is to determine which species are most vulnerable to the negative effects of roads on population persistence. Theory suggests that species that avoid roads are less likely to be negatively affected by roads than those that do not avoid roads. The goal of this study was to take a step toward testing this prediction by evaluating the behavioral response to roads and traffic of a species whose populations are known to be negatively affected by roads and traffic, the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens). We studied the movement patterns of northern leopard frogs during their spring migration from overwintering sites in a river to various breeding ponds that were disconnected from the river by roads. We performed short-distance translocations of migrating frogs, followed them visually, and documented their movement coordinates following each hop, both near the roads and in non-roaded areas. We found that frogs took longer to move near roads with more traffic and that their movement was quickest in areas without roads nearby. Frogs tended to deviate more from a straight-line course when they were released near roads than compared with control areas, but this response was independent of traffic volume. All frogs released near roads attempted to cross the road. On very low traffic roads (10.86 mean vehicles per hour), 94% of frogs crossed the road successfully, whereas at higher traffic roads (58.29 mean vehicles per hour) 72% were successful. Our results suggest that frog's inability to avoid going onto roads and their slow movement combine to make them particularly vulnerable to road mortality, which likely explains the strong negative effects of roads on frog population abundance. Conservation efforts should focus on preventing frogs from accessing the road surface through the use of drift fencing and culverts.

Research, part of a Special Feature on Effects of Roads and Traffic on Wildlife Populations and Landscape Function Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence

Musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular and neurological diseases were the most commonly debilitating conditions and risk factors associated with pain, mobility limitations, increased risk of falls and disability. Studies barely address the profile of older adults in care within a specialized geriatric rehabilitation service (SGRS) to provide subsidies for new actions within the public healthcare to reduce falls and improve management in health investments. This study aimed to establish a clinical physical and functional profile of the patients with neuromusculoskeletal and cognitive disorders and fallers in interventions within SGRS. From a retrospective study design, 127 medical records were compiled and analyzed to determine the physical and functional profile of older adults and differences according to sex, age groups and the benefits for local physical therapy intervention. The users were between 76 and 85 years of age, with diverse clinical diagnoses and debilitating conditions and impairments. A higher proportion presented gait and balance impairments and had two or more falls in 12 months. A significant effect for advanced age was observed. Overall, real benefits were reported with intervention for functional improvement, although the absence of a control group. These results have direct implications for a better understanding of a local SGRS and provide subsidies for developing new approaches for the assessment and treatment of older adults with high a risk of falls in order to reduce costs for the public health system.

/pdf/physical-and-functional-clinical-profile-of-older-adults-in-3safvbqv.pdf

Physical and Functional Clinical Profile of Older Adults in Specialized Geriatric Rehabilitation Care Services in Saguenay-Québec: A Retrospective Study at La Baie Hospital

Julie Bouchard

Papers

Predicting when animal populations are at risk from roads: An interactive model of road avoidance behavior

Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence

Research, part of a Special Feature on Effects of Roads and Traffic on Wildlife Populations and Landscape Function Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence

Physical and Functional Clinical Profile of Older Adults in Specialized Geriatric Rehabilitation Care Services in Saguenay-Québec: A Retrospective Study at La Baie Hospital