Road network in an agrarian landscape: Potential habitat, corridor or barrier for small mammals?

Redon, Louis de; Viol, Isabelle Le; Jiguet, Frédéric; Machon, Nathalie; Scher, Olivier; Kerbiriou, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2014.12.003

Cited by 39 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…We observed the highest abundances in agricultural areas, where crops provide food for rabbits (Barrio, Bueno, Villafuerte, & Tortosa, 2013), but ploughing destroys their warrens and prevent them to establish in the fieldcrops (Calvete et al, 2004). Similar patterns of species inhabiting verges near agricultural areas have been also observed in mice species (Bellamy et al, 2000;de Redon et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…The other main infrastructure variable outlined by our models is the width of verges, a feature purely dependent on the design of the road and how far from the paved surface the perimeter fence is located. Wider verges provide more habitat for the species and also allow individuals to stay safer, being further away from vehicles and avoiding roadkill (Bellamy, Shore, Ardeshir, Treweek, & Sparks, 2000;de Redon et al, 2015). This is an interesting feature, as it can be easily changed during design or managed after the construction of the infrastructure, at least in those areas that do not include an embankment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, as resources are limited, we should prioritize those areas with higher potential for conflict or where prevention or mitigation can be more effective (Farmer & Brooks, 2012;Malo et al, 2004). This will be the case for example of road verges in agricultural areas (this study; Bellamy et al, 2000;de Redon et al, 2015). If desired, the verge management focused to reduce rabbit populations may be counteracted by allowing the species to establish in other points of the landscape, for example, leaving uncultivated plots between field crops (de Redon et al, 2015) or maintaining suitable areas for predators and preys far from roads (Gomes et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This will be the case for example of road verges in agricultural areas (this study; Bellamy et al, 2000;de Redon et al, 2015). If desired, the verge management focused to reduce rabbit populations may be counteracted by allowing the species to establish in other points of the landscape, for example, leaving uncultivated plots between field crops (de Redon et al, 2015) or maintaining suitable areas for predators and preys far from roads (Gomes et al, 2009). This may be a real option for rabbits as the species prefer, when available, areas with less disturbance away from motorways (Planillo & Malo, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The road density is even higher in Europe, and prospects are for its increase worldwide (Dulac, 2013). Among many others effects, an interesting aspect of roads is that they provide new habitat and corridors that are used by small mammals (Galantinho et al, 2017;de Redon et al, 2015;Ruiz-Capillas, Mata, & Malo, 2013). However, this effect may not be desirable in every situation, as it can act as corridor for invasive species (Downes, Handasyde, & Elgar, 1997;Trombulak & Frissell, 2000), and in some situations, dense populations of prey near roads could attract predators and increase their mortality risk (Barrientos & Bolonio, 2009;Grilo, Reto, Filipe, Ascensão, & Revilla, 2014;Planillo, Mata, Manica, & Malo, in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Infrastructure features outperform environmental variables explaining rabbit abundance around motorways

Planillo

Malo

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Human disturbance is widespread across landscapes in the form of roads that alter wildlife populations. Knowing which road features are responsible for the species response and their relevance in comparison with environmental variables will provide useful information for effective conservation measures. We sampled relative abundance of European rabbits, a very widespread species, in motorway verges at regional scale, in an area with large variability in environmental and infrastructure conditions. Environmental variables included vegetation structure, plant productivity, distance to water sources, and altitude. Infrastructure characteristics were the type of vegetation in verges, verge width, traffic volume, and the presence of embankments. We performed a variance partitioning analysis to determine the relative importance of two sets of variables on rabbit abundance. Additionally, we identified the most important variables and their effects model averaging after model selection by AICc on hypothesis‐based models. As a group, infrastructure features explained four times more variability in rabbit abundance than environmental variables, being the effects of the former critical in motorway stretches located in altered landscapes with no available habitat for rabbits, such as agricultural fields. Model selection and Akaike weights showed that verge width and traffic volume are the most important variables explaining rabbit abundance index, with positive and negative effects, respectively. In the light of these results, the response of species to the infrastructure can be modulated through the modification of motorway features, being some of them manageable in the design phase. The identification of such features leads to suggestions for improvement through low‐cost corrective measures and conservation plans. As a general indication, keeping motorway verges less than 10 m wide will prevent high densities of rabbits and avoid the unwanted effects that rabbit populations can generate in some areas.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Infrastructure features outperform environmental variables explaining rabbit abundance around motorways

Planillo

Malo

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Spontaneous succession on road verges—An effective approach with minimum effort

Janečková¹,

Řehounková²,

Vítovcová³

et al. 2021

Land Degrad Dev

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Road verges represent new habitats providing an opportunity for enhancing biodiversity in human-altered landscapes. However, it is common practice to plant trees or sow species-poor seed mixtures regardless of their geographical origin. We assessed the effectiveness of spontaneous restoration to fulfil the requirements for both functions, the formation of vegetation cover to prevent erosion and native species-rich vegetation, which may provide conservation benefits. We sampled 113 vegetation plots on road verges in the Czech Republic, central Europe. The sampling plots were 25 m 2 in size and differed in age (1-42 years). We recorded surrounding landscape (land-cover categories, landscape heterogeneity, and length of roads and railways in a 1-km radius zone) and site factors (altitude, substrate texture, slope, aspect, and potential solar radiation) and analysed the data using multivariate methods. Species composition was significantly explained by successional age, altitude, substrate texture, and surrounding forest area. The total herb cover reached on average 30% already in the first 2 years, and later shrub and tree layers developed. Out of 320 identified vascular plant species, almost 5% (15 species) were endangered and 6% (19 species) were invasive aliens. Early successional stages were characterised by a high cover of insect-pollinated species, which can serve as important food sources for insects. Despite some limitations (poor seed sources and inconvenient site conditions), our results showed that spontaneous succession could be used more often in the restoration of road verges because this approach may provide an alternative, cost-effective solution of reasonable conservation value.

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