Road effects on habitat richness of the Greek Natura 2000 network

Abstract

The road network has both positive and negative ecological effects, and understanding these helps identify environmentally preferable solutions for transportation policy and planning. We investigated the relationship between road density and habitat type richness of Greek protected areas. We used digital vector maps of 214 sites included in the Greek Natura 2000 network. We calculated road density for the terrestrial part of each site and correlated it with habitat type richness. Average road density of protected areas (0.377 km/ km 2 ) was significantly lower than the national road density of Greece (0.446 km/km 2 ). We identified 32 sites that were not intersected by roads. These roadless sites were located at mountain tops, at islets, or in remote coastal zones. Overall we found no significant correlation between road density and habitat type richness. We suggest that the effect of road networks on habitat type richness is less apparent at landscapes with long history of human presence, because the landscape (and its habitat diversity) has coevolved with human activities over the past millennia. Our analysis provides a step towards quantifying the effect of road density on the diversity of habitats and consequently on species of conservation interest in international networks of protected areas such as the European Natura 2000 network.

Red-listed wood-inhabiting fungi in natural and managed forest landscapes adjacent to the timberline in central Sweden

“…Species richness and abundance were instead generally higher in forest older than 120 years, with none or only few traces of wood harvesting. The negative correlation between focal species occurrence and forest roads found in our study is in accordance with recent studies discussing the potential of using road-free areas as conservation targets (Selva et al 2011;Votsi et al 2012). We thus suggest that a low quantity of forest roads can be used as an indicator of still-intact forest landscapes with high conservation values.…”

A Bioacoustic Record of a Conservancy in the Mount Kenya Ecosystem

“…As shown in Table 8 , only 7 species were recorded in both foreground and background of recordings at location 7 which is closest to the highway compared to 20 species recorded at the location with the highest number which was located further from the road, location 8. This confirms conclusions from other authors that roads have a major impact on wildlife populations (Votsi et al 2012, Goodwin and Shriver 2010). …”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Natura 2000 Network for Wolf Conservation: A Case-Study in Greece

“…It is noteworthy that these roadless sites are considered in good (n = 2) and excellent (n = 5) conservation status according to our model; which demonstrates their potential as physical corridors, stepping stones or even in preventing further road development. However, despite the significance of roadless areas for biodiversity conservation as relatively less disturbed areas (Strittholt and Dellasala 2001;Crist et al 2005), they are insufficiently known or protected (Votsi et al 2012). As Selva et al (2011) suggest, roadless areas should be identified, mapped and preserved due to their significance in biodiversity conservation initiatives, especially if combined with the N2K network.…”