Journal ArticleDOI
Roads and their major ecological effects
TLDR
Road density and network structure are informative landscape ecology assays and Australia has huge road-reserve networks of native vegetation, whereas the Dutch have tunnels and overpasses perforating road barriers to enhance ecological flows.Abstract:
A huge road network with vehicles ramifies across the land, representing a surprising frontier of ecology. Species-rich roadsides are conduits for few species. Roadkills are a premier mortality source, yet except for local spots, rates rarely limit population size. Road avoidance, especially due to traffic noise, has a greater ecological impact. The still-more-important barrier effect subdivides populations, with demographic and probably genetic consequences. Road networks crossing landscapes cause local hydrologic and erosion effects, whereas stream networks and distant valleys receive major peak-flow and sediment impacts. Chemical effects mainly occur near roads. Road networks interrupt horizontal ecological flows, alter landscape spatial pattern, and therefore inhibit important interior species. Thus, road density and network structure are informative landscape ecology assays. Australia has huge road-reserve networks of native vegetation, whereas the Dutch have tunnels and overpasses perforating road barriers to enhance ecological flows. Based on road-effect zones, an estimated 15‐20% of the United States is ecologically impacted by roads.read more
Citations
More filters
Book ChapterDOI
Streams in the Urban Landscape
Michael J. Paul,Judy L. Meyer +1 more
TL;DR: The most consistent and pervasive effect is an increase in impervious surface cover within urban catchments, which alters the hydrology and geomorphology of streams as discussed by the authors, which results in predictable changes in stream habitat.
Journal ArticleDOI
Urban effects on native avifauna: a review
Jameson F. Chace,John J. Walsh +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compile the most recent information on urban impacts on avian populations and communities and identify the processes that underlie the patterns of population and community level responses, but several areas of have been identified as being important.
Journal ArticleDOI
Landscape change and the urbanization process in Europe
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a new concept of functional urban regions (FURs) for landscape ecologists to understand the change of traditional European cultural landscapes, which are highly dynamic, complex and multifunctional.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation
Oscar Venter,Oscar Venter,Oscar Venter,Eric W. Sanderson,Ainhoa Magrach,Ainhoa Magrach,James Allan,Jutta Beher,Kendall R. Jones,Hugh P. Possingham,Hugh P. Possingham,William F. Laurance,Peter Wood,Balázs M. Fekete,Marc A. Levy,James E. M. Watson,James E. M. Watson +16 more
TL;DR: This work uses recently available data on infrastructure, land cover and human access into natural areas to construct a globally standardized measure of the cumulative human footprint on the terrestrial environment at 1 km2 resolution from 1993 to 2009.
Journal ArticleDOI
How much habitat is enough
TL;DR: The simulations suggest that the first priority for conservation should be habitat preservation and restoration, information on movement rates of organisms is critical for predicting extinction thresholds and conservation strategies should consider the quality of the whole landscape, including the matrix.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology
Book
Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions
TL;DR: In this paper, an up-to-date synthesis explores the ecology of heterogeneous land areas, where natural processes and human activities spatially interact, to produce an ever changing mosaic.
Book
Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology
TL;DR: Fluvial processes in geomorphology, Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology as discussed by the authors, fluvial processes and geomorphological processes in the field of geology.
Book
Viable Populations for Conservation
TL;DR: Soule as mentioned in this paper proposed a demography of chance extinction model for the Sumatran rhino as a case study and used the Soule Index to measure the survivability of critically endangered species.
Journal ArticleDOI
Roads, land use, and deforestation : a spatial model applied to Belize
Kenneth M. Chomitz,David A. Gray +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a spatially explicit model of land use and estimates probabilities of alternative land uses as a function of land characteristics and distance to market using a multinomial logit specification of this model.
Related Papers (5)
Review of ecological effects of roads on terrestrial and aquatic communities.
Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis
Lenore Fahrig,Trina Rytwinski +1 more