Railway ecology vs. road ecology: similarities and differences

Barrientos, Rafael; Ascensão, Fernando; Beja, Pedro; Pereira, Henrique M.; Borda‐de‐Água, Luís

doi:10.1007/s10344-018-1248-0

Cited by 47 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…A linear structure is any elongated landscape feature (a verge, embankment, hedge, tree and/or bush row, ditch) which is usually situated along a transportation line (a road or railway track), differs from adjacent habitat and diversifies the landscape. The role of linear structures is ambiguous, with prevailing reports of their negative impact on biodiversity (Borda-de-Água et al 2017; Barrientos et al 2019), and there is a substantial disproportion in the number of studies concerning effects of roads rather than railways (Popp and Boyle 2017). The presence of transportation lines in a landscape seems to be an obvious barrier for low-mobility organisms leading to the fragmentation of populations (Andrews 1990; Fahrig 2003), emergence of edge effects (Forman et al 2003) and decline in genetic variation (Balkenhol and Waits 2009; Holderegger and Di Giulio 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite an increasing number of findings concerning railway ecology, it is relatively novel discipline with overwhelming number of research reporting negative effects on biodiversity (Barrientos and Borda-de-Água 2017; Godinho et al 2017a; Malo et al 2017; Murias et al 2017; Santos et al 2017; Barrientos et al 2019) and effects of railways on bird biology and bird communities are rarely studied. For example, Popp and Boyle (2017) found altogether 3 vs. 62 papers concerning railway and road effects on birds, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of railways on bird diversity in farmland

Kajzer‐Bonk

Skórka

Bonk

et al. 2019

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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With a length exceeding 210,000 km in Europe, railways are common linear features dissecting landscapes. However, the impact of railway networks on biodiversity is equivocal. In this study, we investigated the effect of railway embankments on bird diversity components in an agricultural landscape in southern Poland. Forty transects including 20 along railways and 20 as controls in open fields were established. Birds were counted twice in 2009, and environmental characteristics were estimated for each transect. Ordination techniques and generalized additive models were used to compare species composition, richness, abundance, conservation status, population trends and phylogenetic and functional diversity indices between railway and field transects. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity but not abundance nor functional diversity were higher along railway transects than along field transects. Diversity indices near railways, mostly species richness and phylogenetic diversity, were positively associated with bush cover, wet meadow cover, wetland cover and the slope of the railway but negatively associated with dry meadow cover and field cover. Our study shows that railway embankments may be beneficial for bird diversity but probably do not alter the functional properties of bird communities as much as open fields. Proper management of these linear habitats may increase their value for birds and contribute to long-term bird community persistence.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-019-06245-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of railways on bird diversity in farmland

Kajzer‐Bonk

Skórka

Bonk

et al. 2019

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…However, the railway in our study area had a low traffic density with approximately 10 trains/day, and train collisions may not be the only driver of the observed reduction in gene flow in A. obstetricans . The physical features of the railway are more likely to explain this pattern (Barrientos et al, 2019). Amphibians indeed have a high probability to be trapped between or along rail tracks, making them more vulnerable to both collisions and desiccation than other vertebrates (Budzik and Budzik, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most obvious detrimental effects of LTIs on dispersal success are direct collisions with vehicles and physical crossing impediment when infrastructures are for instance fenced (Forman and Alexander, 1998; Trombulak and Frissell, 2000; Hels and Buchwald, 2001; Beebee, 2013; Barrientos et al, 2019). Most animals are affected, from small invertebrates to large mammals (Balkenhol and Waits, 2009; Fahrig and Rytwinski, 2009; Borda-de Agua et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of gene flow across multiple anthropogenic infrastructures: Insights from a multi-species approach

Remon

Moulherat²,

Cornuau³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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13Large-scale Transportation Infrastructures (LTIs; roads, railways, etc.) are among the main de-14 terminants of landscape fragmentation, with strong impacts on animal dispersal movements and 15 functioning of metapopulations. Although the detection of the impacts of LTIs is now facilitated 16 by landscape genetic tools, studies are often conducted on a single specie, while it is acknowledged 17 that different species might react differently to the same obstacle. Multi-specific approaches are 18 thus required to get a better overview of the impacts of human-induced fragmentation, especially in 19 landscapes crossed by multiple LTIs whose impacts can accumulate. We surveyed two vertebrates 20 species (the grass snake Natrix helvetica and the midwife toad Alytes obstetricans) and two insect 21 species (the butterfly Maniola jurtina and the ground-beetle Abax parallelepipedus) in a landscape 22 fragmented by six LTIs: a motorway, a railway, a country road, a gas pipeline, a power line and a 23 secondary road network. Using multiple linear regressions and commonality analyses on both clas-24 sical and hierarchical genetic distances computed over reduced spatial scales, we showed that 38% 25 of the overall explained genetic variability across all species was due to LTIs. While the butterfly 26 was seemingly not impacted by any LTI, the genetic structure of the three ground-dwelling species 27 was mostly influenced by roads, motorway and railway. LTIs, and especially roads, mostly acted as 28 barriers to gene flow, barrier effects accounting for 85% of the overall variance in genetic distances 29 explained by LTIs across species. Although the power line did not affect any studied species and the 30 1 gas pipeline only impacted gene flow in the ground-beetle through forest fragmentation, other LTIs 31 systematically affected at least two species. Importantly, we showed that some LTIs could some-32 how promote gene flow, embankments probably providing favourable habitats for vertebrate species. 33Considering the high variability in species response to LTIs, we argue that drawing general conclu-34 sions on landscape connectivity from the study of a single species may lead to counterproductive 35 mitigation measures and that multi-species approaches are to be more systematically considered. 36

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“…The types of linear structures differ in terms of risks posed to wildlife populations as well as in the understanding of how to mitigate these effects. Research from the fields of road ecology and railway ecology points to two factors that account for most of the negative effects of linear structures on wildlife [5][6][7][8][9][10]. The first factor is direct mortality, which is caused by, for example, wildlife-vehicle collision (wvc) and wildlife-train collision (wtc) [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Response to Linear Infrastructures by the Endangered Golden Lion Tamarin

et al. 2019

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Linear infrastructures are a primary driver of economic development. However, they also can negatively affect wildlife by mortality and the barrier effect. In this paper, we address how paved and unpaved roads, high-tension power lines, and gas/oil pipelines affect home range size, core areas, and movement in an endangered primate, the golden lion tamarin (GLT). Location data were recorded using radio telemetry on 16 groups in two protected areas and in privately owned forest fragments. The GLT’s home range, not core area, increased in size for the groups that occupied locations far from linear infrastructures; home range was also significantly influenced by available forest size. None of the home ranges contained a road, but home ranges did contain power lines. GLTs used the surrounding landscape near all types of infrastructure. Movement analysis showed that most of the step lengths (distances between subsequent locations) were less than 100 m between two consecutive locations, but step length was longer for roads and longer for groups in fully forested habitats. Tamarins avoided paved roads when in close proximity to this type of infrastructure; this behavior increased in areas without adequate adjacent forest habitat. Our results show that linear infrastructures differ in their level of impact: roads can act as a barrier, whereas other types of infrastructure have minimal effect on movement and home range. We discuss these differences in impact in terms of structure, maintenance schedules, and edge effects of infrastructure.

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Railway ecology vs. road ecology: similarities and differences

Cited by 47 publications

References 81 publications

The effect of railways on bird diversity in farmland

The effect of railways on bird diversity in farmland

Patterns of gene flow across multiple anthropogenic infrastructures: Insights from a multi-species approach

Spatial Response to Linear Infrastructures by the Endangered Golden Lion Tamarin

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