Can roads, railways and related structures have positive effects on birds? – A review

Morelli, Federico; Beim, M.; Jerzak, Leszek; Jones, Darryl; Tryjanowski, Piotr

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2014.05.006

Cited by 192 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Within an urban area, railways represent a special situation providing an exceptionally vulnerable environment for establishment of neophytes and plant invasions [14][15][16]. In railway areas, both the high level of habitat disturbance and heterogeneity create specific conditions for a distinctive flora and vegetation development [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Railway transport systems with associated structures (e.g., tunnels, bridges) can also encourage biodiversity in an urban environment [20]. These structures create new habitats and provide valuable conditions for the activity of animals and/or the occurrence of diverse plant species [16,21,22]. However, there are also many negative impacts of railway areas on the environment such as habitat loss and fragmentation, destruction of habitat conditions, pollution, creation of barriers to the reproductive and food niches of organisms [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Invasive flora within urban railway areas: a case study from Lublin (Poland) and Lviv (Ukraine)

et al. 2017

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Heterogeneous and disturbed habitats within railway areas create an ideal environment for establishment of invasive plant species. In this study, we compared the invasive species composition and abundance within railway areas of two cities, Lublin, SE Poland and Lviv, W Ukraine. In total, 70 invasive species were recorded. The invasive species list was similar for the two cities, with the most invasive species occurring at both (81.4%), 8.5% occurring only in Lublin and 10% only in Lviv. The proportion of invasive species in the total flora was almost 1.5-fold higher at Lviv compared to Lublin. Invasive species have originated mainly from continental America (45.7%), followed by Asia and Eurasia. The participation of invasive plants derived from Asia and Eurasia at Lviv is higher than at Lublin. The invasive flora includes a wide range of taxonomic groups, with a predominance of Asteraceae and Poaceae. The ecological attributes of invasive species on railway areas are: mainly annual therophytes, mostly wind-and insect pollination modes, a predominance of generative reproduction, anthropochorous and anemochorous dispersal and short-term persistent, long-term persistent or transient seed banks.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive flora within urban railway areas: a case study from Lublin (Poland) and Lviv (Ukraine)

et al. 2017

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“…Considering the diversity of taxonomic groups that are frequently killed on railways, it may be surprising that trains can cause such high mortality among some species (see ungulates, for example), because, compared to cars, trains are often less frequent, noisier, larger and, most of the times, travel at low to medium speeds (Heske 2015;Morelli et al 2014). However, even freight trains can sometimes reach speeds close to 200 km/h and cannot stop quickly when encountering animals on the rails.…”

Section: How Different Is Mortality In Railways and Roads?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Knowledge on Wildlife Mortality in Railways

Santos

Carvalho

2017

Railway Ecology

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Wildlife mortality on roads has received considerable attention in the past years, allowing the collection of abundant data for a wide range of taxonomic groups. On the contrary, studies of wildlife mortality on railway tracks are scarce and have focused primarily on a few large mammals, such as moose and bears. Nevertheless, many species are found as victims of collisions with trains, although certain taxonomic groups, such as amphibians and reptiles, and/or small bodied species are reported infrequently and their mortality is probably underestimated. However, no assessment of population impacts is known for railways.

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“…It is accepted that many harmful direct and indirect effects of railways and roads on wildlife usually increase with the volume of traffic [9]. However, the management strategy to provide safety traffic appears to be an important determinant for the richness and abundance of bee forage species along linear transport structures.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Flowering Plants -Railway Embankments Vs mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Corridors are elongated patches (= linear structures) that form networks across the landscape and connect other patches together. Linear structures (e.g., road verges, railways, field margins, and ditch and stream verges) are a part of the system [9]. Since land transport is one of the most dynamic sectors of the European economy, road networks and railway lines are still developing [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and abundance of bee forage flora across an agricultural landscape – railway embankments vs. road verges

Wrzesień

Denisow

2016

Acta Soc Bot Pol

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In this study, we evaluated if railway embankments and road verges create refuge habitats for bee flora across agricultural landscape. The survey was conducted in 2009-2012, in the Lublin Province, SE Poland. Data on the bee forage flora were obtained while making floristic charts along 60 transect plots × 300 m, with a total length of 18 000 m, for each type of linear structure. Forage bee flora was compared with respect to species richness, diversity, and evenness indices. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to characterize relationship between species composition and environmental variables. The bee forage species richness and abundance were significantly greater on railway embankments than on road verges. The composition of species varied considerably; the number of bee forage species common to both habitats was only approximately 38% in entire data set. Most good-value bee forage species were recorded along the embankments of railways with an intermediate traffic volume. Bee forage species diversity benefits from the location of habitat elements (forests or meadows), primarily if the distance is <50 m. The lack of dense patches of valuable bee forage species in the road verges was related to the high density of non-nectariferous graminoids. Our results demonstrate how the value of man-made areas in an agricultural ecosystem can vary with respect to floral resources across the landscape, suggesting that it is inappropriate to generalize about agricultural systems as a whole without first addressing differences among habitats.

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Can roads, railways and related structures have positive effects on birds? – A review

Cited by 192 publications

References 70 publications

Invasive flora within urban railway areas: a case study from Lublin (Poland) and Lviv (Ukraine)

Invasive flora within urban railway areas: a case study from Lublin (Poland) and Lviv (Ukraine)

Current Knowledge on Wildlife Mortality in Railways

Distribution and abundance of bee forage flora across an agricultural landscape – railway embankments vs. road verges

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