Connecting Wildlife Populations in Fractured Landscapes

This introductory chapter on connecting wildlife populations in fractured landscapes is from a book on highways, wildlife, and habitat connectivity. The authors offer a brief review of why roads can be a challenge for wildlife in general; how roads impair connectivity for wildlife populations, including the broader toll of roads on wildlife; and the importance of connectivity. Roads and associated traffic are described as having an impact on wildlife in four areas: decrease habitat amount and quality; increase mortality from collisions with vehicles; limit access to resources; and fragment wildlife populations. The authors stress the importance of connectivity as a key component of conserving biodiversity, since connected populations have a higher likelihood of surviving and connectivity provides greater flexibility for a species. Any project that wants to maintain or restore connectivity, must include an appropriate planning team, clear goals, identification of focal species, identification of the strategies needed for that species, identification of pathways between core habitats, appropriate data collection, conduct of cost-benefit analyses, and elicitation of local support. This chapter presents a framework for the case studies described later in the book.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9781597266543
• Corporate Authors:

  Island Press

  1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 300
  Washington, DC  United States  20009-1148
• Authors:
  • Beckmann, Jon P
  • Hilty, Jodi A
• Publication Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Maps;
• Pagination: pp 3-16
• Monograph Title: Safe Passages: Highways, Wildlife, and Habitat Connectivity

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Animal vehicle crashes; At grade intersections; Biodiversity; Case studies; Crashes; Environmental impacts; Financing; Habitat (Ecology); Highways; Land use; Mammals; Roadside fauna; Taxes; Websites (Information retrieval); Wildlife crossings
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I15: Environment; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01328222
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9781597266543
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 24 2011 12:07PM