Restoring Habitat Connectivity across Transport Corridors: Identifying High-Priority Locations for De-Fragmentation with the Use of an Expert-Based Model

This chapter describes how roads, railroads and canalized waterways, as well as causing changes in land use are major sources of habitat fragmentation. These transport corridors, divide landscapes into discrete sections, thus decreasing connectivity between habitat patches. The extent to which habitat connectivity is affected is species-specific and dependent on the characteristics of both the transport corridor itself and its traffic. For most animal species a transport corridor is a partial barrier, with the exchange of animals between habitat patches on opposite sides of the barrier being a small fraction of the exchange in the pre-fragmented situation. However, it is not uncommon for transport corridors to create an absolute barrier that cuts off all animal movements across the transport corridor and prohibits and successful crossings. If all necessary habitat types (e.g. breeding, foraging, resting habitat) for a species are still present within a section, unnatural mortality at the transport corridors will be low or may be prevented fully. If the isolated section is still large enough to facilitate the existence of a viable population, it is not likely that the species will become locally extinct. However, if the transport infrastructure network is dense enough to result in isolated habitat patches that are too small to support viable populations, and traffic-induced mortality is considerable, then the risk of local extinction is high resulting in a loss of biodiversity. To counteract the impact of habitat fragmentation by transport corridors, a variety of mitigation measures have been developed and this chapter discusses these measures.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9781402045035
• Corporate Authors:

  Springer

  P. O. Box 17
  Dordtrecht,   Netherlands  3300 AA
• Authors:
  • van der Grift, Edgar A
  • Pouwels, Rogier
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: pp 205-231
• Monograph Title: The Ecology of Transportation: Managing Mobility for the Environment

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Animal migrations; Animals; Canals; Canals and waterways; Connectivity; Corridors; Expert systems; Habitat; High risk locations; Highway corridors; Highway transportation; Railroads; Restoration ecology; Transportation corridors; Wildlife; Wildlife crossings
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fragmentation
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Energy; Environment; Highways; Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01041722
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9781402045035
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 2007 1:32PM