Roads and Roadless Areas in Cyprus: Implications For The Natura 2000 Network

Abstract

The road network in Cyprus has seen an 88% increase in the last 20 years. This expansion has not been followed by any kind of assessment on the effects of the network on nature conservation. This is the first island-wide quantitative assessment of the size, character (surface types), pervasiveness and distribution of the road system with particular reference to Natura 2000 network on the island. We mapped roadless areas (i.e. areas at least one km away from nearest road) for the whole island and examined the spatial distribution with respect to Natura 2000. We tested the relationship between overall road density and road density of different road categories within terrestrial Natura 2000 sites to four zones which were defined on the basis of landform, principal land use and ownership. We employed three indices i.e. effective mesh size, splitting and division to measure fragmentation caused by the road network within Natura 2000 and investigated the relationship between road density and the above fragmentation metrics. Mean road density in Cyprus is 2.3 km/km2 which is comparable to road density values recorded in other Mediterranean countries such as France, Spain and Italy, which have much larger area and population. Roadless areas cover 4.5% of the island, and despite being scattered 80% is found within Natura 2000, which demonstrates the added value of the network for nature conservation. Road expansion has taken place throughout the island with the same intensity irrespectively of the zones examined. Fragmentation has been lower in sites on mountainous areas where sites are larger and under state ownership. Road density is negatively correlated (r = - 0.383, p = 0.05) with effective mesh size and positively correlated with both landscape division (r = 0.376, p = 0.05) and splitting index (r = 0.376, p = 0.05). Results corroborate that spatial configuration is an important property of the road network in addition to traffic load, length and density.With the shift from site based conservation to landscape level there is a challenge for integrating technical, human and ecological requirements into infrastructure planning.

A spatially explicit impact assessment of road characteristics, road-induced fragmentation and noise on birds species in Cyprus

“…The combination of noise with fragmentation maps identified many areas with high and very high impact (hotspots), containing 11 SPAs under the Natura 2000 network of protected areas which present significant risk for Cyprus's avifauna, where mitigation actions should be taken. This corroborates with the results from other studies on the island on the pervasiveness of the road network on protected areas (Zomeni and Vogiatzakis 2014;Mammides et al 2015).…”

“…Cyprus is an island with special importance for ornithology because it is situated along one of the main migratory routes for birds, which has resulted in a rich and diverse avifauna. At the same time, it is among the countries in Europe with the highest road densities (Zomeni and Vogiatzakis 2014) and where the road network is expanding (Statistical Service of Cyprus data). This is the first large scale/island-wide study looking at the combined effects of traffic noise and road induced fragmentation on bird richness.…”

Quantifying Landscape Degradation Following Construction of a Highway Using Landscape Metrics in Southern Iran

“…Furthermore, Mehdipour et al (2019) found that the construction of roads has led to subdivision in the Ghamishloo National Park and Wildlife Refuge, as indicated by an increase in SPLIT and DIVISION and a decrease in MESH and LPI. Research on the effects of roads on landscape characteristics (Jaeger et al, 2008;Zebardast et al, 2011;Zomeni and Vogiatzakis, 2014) similarly found that roadinduced decrease in MESH and increase in SPLIT and DIVISION are indicative of increased fragmentation and pose a threat to species which require large areas to survive as smaller patches jeopardize their survival.…”

Habitat selection and interspecific competition between Sylvia warblers in Cyprus following the rapid expansion of a recent colonizer

“…Uniform plots of each habitat type were identified in the field and delineated using a handheld GPS device. Because of the high habitat fragmentation along the target regions (Zomeni and Vogiatzakis 2014;P. Panayides 2006, unpublished manuscript), random selection of plots would have resulted in mixtures of habitats, thus we opted for study area selection through work in the field to ensure uniform plots were targeted.…”