The impact of a utility corridor on terrestrial gastropod biodiversity

Abstract

Utility corridors are often thought to be disruptive to biodiversity because they cause habitat fragmentation that may lead to increases in predation, parasitism, disease transmittance and vagrant species while decreasing migration rates, gene flow and genetic diversity for interior species. Species with poor dispersal abilities, sedentary lifestyles, and specialized habitats have been thought to be potentially the most vulnerable to these effects. Terrestrial gastropods thus serve as a valuable system in which to investigate these impacts because they are among the poorest active dispersers in the animal kingdom. To document the impact of corridor formation on land snail biodiversity, a 75-year old powerline right-of-way in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan was chosen for analysis. While terrestrial gastropod richness and abundance was significantly reduced for corridor as compared to adjacent control subsamples, with a 2/3 turnover in species composition, the corridor fauna is similar to nearby native grassland sites in terms of species composition, abundance distribution, and numbers and abundance of species of conservation concern. The fauna of control subsamples immediately adjacent to the corridor remained similar to other undisturbed sites in the region, with multiple species of conservation concern persisting at distances of only 30 m from the corridor. Thus, the net impact of corridor generation has been arguably positive: while the surrounding forest fauna has not been degraded, within the corridor the reduction of forest species has been compensated for by establishment of even rarer grassland species.

Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy

“…Studies quantifying the direct impact of USSE on biodiversity in otherwise undisturbed habitats are few ( [75,107]; Lovich and Ennen [70]; Cameron et al [142]; [81]); however, these combined with other disturbance-related studies provide insight into how USSE power plants may impact biodiversity losses locally within the USSE footprint (i.e., all areas directly transformed or impacted by an installation during its life cycle), where the aboveground vegetation is cleared and soils typically graded, and regionally by landscape fragmentation that create barriers to the movement of species and their genes [101].…”

“…While wide transmission corridors may facilitate new habitat types resulting in higher diversity or the introduction of new communities [7,58,81], they also experience greater edge effects. Sites at different stages of vegetative recovery have exhibited distinct recolonization patterns, with lower native and higher introduced species diversity at primary successional stages and an increase in native diversity at mid-and late-successional stages [20].…”

Population genetic structure ofBellamya aeruginosa(Mollusca: Gastropoda: Viviparidae) in China: weak divergence across large geographic distances

“…Freshwater gastropods represent interesting models to study the effects of extrinsic factors on the population genetic structure due to their primarily sessile lifestyle (Nekola 2012). Many snail species show strong genetic differentiation between populations, even across small geographic distances (Hurtrez-Bouss es et al 2010;Tian-Bi et al 2013).…”

Edge effects on plant communities along power line clearings

“…; Laurance, Goosem & Laurance ). Linear utility corridors, such as roads and power line clearings, have been thought to affect biodiversity negatively (Nekola ; Wojcik & Buchmann ). During the last decade, however, more studies have highlighted their potential value as habitats for several groups of animals: bees (Russell, Ikerd & Droege ), butterflies (Forrester, Leopold & Hafner ; Berg et al .…”