117 research outputs found
Ecological Connectivity Research in Urban Areas
No full textThe successful movement of individuals is fundamental to life. Facilitating these movements by promoting ecological connectivity has become a central theme in ecology and conservation. Urban areas contain more than half of the world's human population, and their potential to support biodiversity and to connect their citizens to nature is increasingly recognized. Promoting ecological connectivity within these areas is essential to reaching this potential. However, our current understanding of ecological connectivity within urban areas appears limited.We reviewed the published scientific literature to assess the state-of-the-art of ecological connectivity research in urban areas, summarized trends in study attributes and highlighted knowledge gaps.We found 174 papers that investigated ecological connectivity within urban areas. These papers addressed either structural (48) or functional connectivity (111), and some addressed both (15), but contained substantial geographic and taxonomic biases. These papers rarely defined the aspect of connectivity they were investigating and objective descriptions of the local urban context were uncommon. Formulated hypotheses or a priori predictions were typically unstated and many papers used suboptimal study designs and methods.We suggest future studies explicitly consider and quantify the landscape within their analyses and make greater use of available and rapidly developing tools and methods for measuring functional connectivity (e.g. biotelemetry or landscape genetics). We also highlight the need for studies to clearly define how the terms ‘urban’ and ‘connectivity’ have been applied.Knowledge gaps in ecological connectivity in urban areas remain, partly because the field is still in its infancy and partly because we must better capitalize on the state-of-the-art technological and analytical techniques that are increasingly available. Well-designed studies that employed high-resolution data and powerful analytical techniques highlight our abilities to quantify ecological connectivity in urban areas. These studies are exemplary, setting the standards for future research to facilitate data-driven and evidence-based biodiversity-friendly infrastructure planning in urban areas
Effects of Roads and Traffic on Wildlife Populations and Landscape Function: Road Ecology is Moving toward Larger Scales
No full textRoad ecology has developed into a significant branch of ecology with steady growth in the number of refereed journal articles, books, conferences, symposia, and "best practice" guidelines being produced each year. The main objective of this special issue of Ecology and Society is to highlight the need for studies that document the population, community, and ecosystem-level effects of roads and traffic by publishing studies that document these effects. It became apparent when compiling this special issue that there is a paucity of studies that explicitly examined higher order effects of roads and traffic. No papers on landscape function or ecosystem-level effects were submitted, despite being highlighted as a priority for publication. The 17 papers in this issue, from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and USA, all deal to some extent with either population or community-level effects of roads and traffic. Nevertheless, many higher order effects remain unquantified, and must become the focus of future studies because the complexity and interactions among the effects of roads and traffic are large and potentially unexpected. An analysis of these complex interrelations requires systematic research, and it is necessary to further establish collaborative links between ecologists and transportation agencies. Many road agencies have "environmental sustainability" as one of their goals and the only way to achieve such goals is for them to support and foster long-term and credible scientific research. The current situation, with numerous small-scale projects being undertaken independently of each other, cannot provide the information required to quantify and mitigate the negative effects of roads and traffic on higher levels. The future of road ecology research will be best enhanced when multiple road projects in different states or countries are combined and studied as part of integrated, well-replicated research projects
Bad roads, good roads
No full textRoads greatly influence the footprint of human activity, but they are often constructed with little consideration of their environmental impacts, especially in developing nations. Here, differences between environmentally 'good' and 'bad' roads are highlighted, and it is argued that a proactive road‐zoning system is direly needed at international and national scales. Such a zoning system could identify areas where the environmental costs of roads are likely to be high and their socioeconomic benefits low, as well as areas where road improvements could have modest environmental costs and large societal benefits.
2.1 Land‐use pressures will rise sharply this century and will be strongly influenced by roads.
2.2 Agricultural yield increases alone will not spare nature – land‐use zoning is crucial too.
2.3 Roads in pristine areas are environmentally dangerous – the first cut is critical.
2.4 Paved highways have especially large‐scale impacts.
2.5 Roads can be environmentally beneficial in certain contexts.
2.6 Roads are amenable to policy modification.
2.7 A recently proposed global road‐mapping scheme could serve as a potential model for these efforts.
This road‐planning scheme could be an important tool for prioritising road investments and for underscoring the transformative role of roads in determining environmental change. An overriding priority is to proactively zone roads at a range of spatial scales while highlighting their critical role in provoking environmental change. Keeping roads out of surviving irreplaceable natural areas is among the most tractable and cost‐effective ways to protect crucial ecosystems and the vital services they provide, whereas roads in the right places can facilitate increases in agricultural productivity and efficiency
Wildlife/Roadkill Observation and Reporting Systems
No full textWherever wildlife habitat and roadways overlap, roadkill seems inevitable. Observing and recording carcassesresulting from wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVC) provides data critical for sustainable transportationplanning and species distribution mapping. Across the world, systems have been created to record WVCobservations by researchers, highway maintenance workers, law officers, wildlife agency staff, insurers andvolunteers. These wildlife/roadkill observation systems (WROS) can include mobile recording devices fordata collection, a website for data management and visualisation and social media to reinforce reportingactivity.62.1 The specific purpose and goals of the WROS may vary among systems but should always be clearlydefined.62.2 Extensive social networks are needed for comprehensive observation systems.62.3 Adopt a methodical approach to developing a wildlife/roadkill observation system.62.4 Analysis and visualisation of data collected within a WROS should correspond to the goals of thesystem.62.5 Address issues in reporter bias by using standardised data collection methods or post hoc analyses.62.6 The advantages and disadvantages of opportunistic and targeted data collection must be carefullyconsidered when developing a WROS.Volunteer science and web‐based information tools have advanced to the point where transportation orwildlife agencies and their allies can develop, support or implement WROS to improve the sustainability oftransportation systems. However, while numerous WROS have been developed and implemented around theworld, the full potential of many systems has not been realised because they were not developed or maintainedaccording to the basic principles outlined in this chapter. We provide suggestions and guidance usefulfor updating existing systems and developing new ones
bat_data_covariates
No full textThis dataset contains acoustic data from multiple bat species and various environmental covariates collected around detector sites. Full details are provided in Caryl F.M., Lumsden L., van der Ree R., Wintle B. 2015 Functional responses of insectivorous bats to increasing housing density support 'land-sparing' rather than ‘land-sharing’ urban growth strategies. Journal of Applied Ecology. Insectivorous bats were surveyed with acoustic detectors at 176 sites separated by >250 m grouped into clusters of four within 9 km2 landscapes in February to April 2010. Four detectors suffered mechanical failure and data from the successful 172 detectors are published here. Landscape-context and site-specific environmental covariates were generated for each site (see metadata tab for details) and used to examine drivers of bat species distributions in urban landscape and identify critical environmental thresholds
The impact of urbanisation on the mammals of Melbourne - do atlas records tell the whole story or just some of the chapters?
No full textIntegrating Transport Infrastructures with Living Landscapes
No full textThis eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac
Ecology of arboreal marsupials in a network of remnant linear habitats
No full textThe clearing of habitat is one of the primary threats to maintaining biodiversity. In northern Victoria, less than 6% tree cover remains, and much of what remains occurs as linear strips along roads and streams. This study investigates how possums and gliders live in a network of linear strips.</p
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