Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T11:01:01.413Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prioritizing highway defragmentation locations for restoring landscape connectivity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2013

MIKEL GURRUTXAGA  and
SANTIAGO SAURA
MIKEL GURRUTXAGA*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
SANTIAGO SAURA
Affiliation:
ETSI Montes, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
*
*Correspondence: Dr Mikel Gurrutxaga e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Transport infrastructures are a major driver of global landscape change. In many areas, highways were built before environmental impact assessments required the implementation of wildlife crossing structures. A fundamental task in the development of ecological networks is identifying areas where dispersal pathways of vulnerable populations may be blocked or affected by high volume roads. Financial considerations may limit investment, thus it is vital to establish the relative contribution of each road defragmentation location to upholding habitat connectivity and availability. In this paper, recent methodological developments in habitat network analysis, derived from the probability of connectivity index, were refined and used to evaluate the role of each highway defragmentation location in restoring landscape connectivity. The forest protected area network in the Basque country (northern Spain) was selected as an illustrative case study. The proposed approach was able to quantify and effectively account for a combination of factors determining the contribution of each highway defragmentation location to upholding connectivity, which are rarely jointly considered in analyses oriented to support restoration decisions in landscapes affected by the barrier effect of transport infrastructures. The contribution to connectivity of each defragmentation location depended on its topological position in the landscape, on the relative decrease in the effective distance among habitat areas that results from the permeability restoration at that location, on the distance from the defragmentation location to other alternative wildlife crossing structures already existing in the landscape, on the amount of habitat in the areas connected by the linkages that run through the defragmentation location and on the dispersal abilities of the focal species.

Keywords

road ecologyhighway defragmentationlandscape connectivityecological networksgraph theory
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Spatial Simulation Models in Planning for Resilience
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 157 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adriaensen, F., Chardon, J.P., De Blust, G., Swinnen, E., Villalba, S., Gulinck, H. & Matthysen, E. (2003) The application of ‘least-cost’ modelling as a functional landscape model. Landscape and Urban Planning 64: 233–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balkenhol, N. & Waits, L.P. (2009) Molecular road ecology: exploring the potential of genetics for investigating transportation impacts on wildlife. Molecular Ecology 18: 4151–4164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bank, F.G., Irwin, C.L., Evink, G.L., Gray, M.E., Hagood, S., Kinar, J.R., Levy, A., Paulson, D., Ruediger, B. & Sauvajot, R.M. (2002) Wildlife Habitat Connectivity across European Highways. Washington, DC, USA: US Department of Transportation.Google Scholar
Basque Government (2009) Map of Habitats, Current Vegetation and Land Use in the Basque Country 1:10,000 scale. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain: Basque Government.Google Scholar
Beier, P., Majka, D. & Spencer, W. (2008) Forks in the road: choices in procedures for designing wildlife linkages. Conservation Biology 22: 836–851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benítez-López, A., Alkemade, R. & Verwijt, P.A. (2010) The impacts of roads and other infrastructure on mammal and bird populations: a meta-analysis. Biological Conservation 143: 1303–1316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, G. & Mulongoy, K.J. (2006) Review of Experience with Ecological Networks, Corridors and Buffer Zones. Montreal, Canada: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.Google Scholar
Bowman, J., Jaeger, J.A.G. & Fahrig, L. (2002) Dispersal distance of mammals is proportional to home range size. Ecology 83: 2049–2055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruinderink, G.G., Van Der Sluis, T., Lammertsma, D., Opdam, P. & Pouwels, P. (2003) Designing a coherent ecological network for large mammals in northwestern Europe. Conservation Biology 17: 549–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M.H., Zwick, P.D., Hoctor, T., Harrell, W., Goethals, A. & Benedict, B. (1998) Using GIS for identifying the interface between ecological greenways and roadway systems at the state and sub-state scales. In: Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Wildlife Ecology and Transportation, ed. Evink, G.L., Garrett, P., Zeigler, D. & Berry, J., pp. 68–77, Tallahassee, USA: Florida Department of Transportation.Google Scholar
Clevenger, A.P. & Wierzchowski, J. (2006) Maintaining and restoring connectivity in landscapes fragmented by roads. In: Connectivity Conservation, ed. Crooks, K.R. & Sanjayan, M., pp. 502–535. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clevenger, A.P. & Huijser, M.P. (2011) Wildlife Crossing Structure Handbook. Design and Evaluation in North America. Washington, DC, USA: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.Google Scholar
Clevenger, A.P. (2012) Mitigating continental scale bottlenecks: how small-scale highway mitigation has large-scale impacts. Ecological Restoration 30: 300–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coffin, A.W. (2007) From roadkill to road ecology: a review of the ecological effects of roads. Journal of Transport Geography 15: 396–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corlatti, L., Hackländer, K. & Frey-Roos, F. (2009) Ability of wildlife overpasses to provide connectivity and prevent genetic isolation. Conservation Biology 23: 548–556.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cushman, S.A., McKelvey, K.S., Hayden, J. & Schwartz, M.K. (2006) Gene flow in complex landscapes: testing multiple hypotheses with causal modeling. American Naturalist 168: 486–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crooks, K.R. & Sanjayan, M., eds (2006) Connectivity Conservation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damschen, E.I., Haddad, N.M., Orrock, J.L., Tewksbury, J.J. & Levey, D. (2006) Corridors increase plant species richness at large scales. Science 313: 1284–1286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eigenbrod, F., Hecnar, S.J. & Fahrig, L. (2008) Accessible habitat: an improved measure of the effects of habitat loss and roads on wildlife populations. Landscape Ecology 23: 159–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J., Lindenmayer, D.B. & Manning, A.D. (2006) Biodiversity, ecosystem function, and resilience: ten guiding principles for commodity production landscapes. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 80–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, R.T.T., Sperling, D., Bissonette, J., Clevenger, A., Cutshall, C., Dale, V., Fahrig, L., France, R., Goldman, C., Heanue, K., Jones, J., Swanson, F., Turrentine, T. & Winter, T. (2003) Road Ecology. Science and Solutions. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
Fu, W., Liu, S., Degloria, S.D., Dong, S. & Beazley, R. (2010) Characterizing the ‘fragmentation-barrier’ effect of road networks on landscape connectivity: a case study in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. Landscape and Urban Planning 95: 122–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glista, D.J., DeVault, Woody, T.L., , J.A. (2009) A review of mitigation measures for reducing wildlife mortality on roadways. Landscape and Urban Planning 91: 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurrutxaga, M., Lozano, P.J. & del Barrio, G. (2010 a) GIS-based approach for incorporating the connectivity of ecological networks into regional planning. Journal for Nature Conservation 18: 318–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurrutxaga, M., Lozano, P.J. & del Barrio, G. (2010 b) Assessing highway permeability for the restoration of landscape connectivity between protected areas in the Basque Country, Northern Spain. Landscape Research 35: 529–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurrutxaga, M., Rubio, L. & Saura, S. (2011) Key connectors in protected forest area networks and the impact of highways: a transnational case study from the Cantabrian Range to the Western Alps (SW Europe). Landscape and Urban Planning 101: 310–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, N.E. & Zavaleta, E.S. (2009) Biodiversity management in the face of climate change: a review of 22 years of recommendations. Biological Conservation 142: 14–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hels, T. & Buchwald, E. (2001) The effect of road kills on amphibian populations. Biological Conservation 99: 331–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hepenstrick, D., Thiel, D., Holderegger, R. & Gugerli, F. (2012) Genetic discontinuities in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) coincide with fenced transportation infrastructure. Basic and Applied Ecology 13: 631–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huck, M., Jędrzejewski, W., Borowik, T., Miłosz-Cielma, M., Schmidt, K., Jędrzejewska, B., Nowak, S. & Mysłajek, R.W. (2010) Habitat suitability, corridors and dispersal barriers for large carnivores in Poland. Acta Theriologica 55: 177–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iuell, B., Bekker, G.J., Cuperus, R., Dufek, J., Fry, G., Hicks, C., Hlaváč, V., Keller, V.B., Rosell, C., Sangwine, T., Tørsløv, N., Wandall, B. & le Maire, B. (2003) COST 341. Wildlife and Traffic: a European Handbook for Identifying Conflicts and Designing Solutions. Utrecht, The Netherlands: KNNV Publishers.Google Scholar
Jackson, N.J. & Fahrig, L. (2011) Relative effects of road mortality and decreased connectivity on population genetic diversity. Biological Conservation 144: 3143–3148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, J.A.G. & Fahrig, L. (2004) Effects of road fencing on population persistence. Conservation Biology 18: 1651–1657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, J.A.G, Scharz-von Raumer, H.G., Esswein, H., Müller, M. & Schmidt-Lüttmann, M. (2007) Time series of landscape fragmentation caused by transportation infrastructure and urban development: a case study from Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Ecology and Society 12: 22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jongman, R.H.G. & Pungetti, G., eds (2004) Ecological Networks and Greenways. Concept, Design, Implementation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jongman, R.H.G., Bouwma, I.M. & Van Doorn, A. (2006) Indicative Map of the Pan-European Ecological Network in Western Europe. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Alterra.Google Scholar
Keller, I. & Largiader, C.R. (2003) Recent habitat fragmentation caused by major roads leads to reduction of gene flow and loss of genetic variability in ground beetles. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 270: 417–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koivula, M.J. & Vermeulen, H.J.W. (2005) Highways and forest fragmentation: effects on carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae). Landscape Ecology 20: 911–926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kusak, J., Huber, D., Gomerčić, T., Schwaderer, G. & Gužvica, G. (2009) The permeability of highway in Gorski Kotar (Croatia) for large mammals. European Journal of Wildlife Research 55: 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H.L., Li, D.H., Li, T., Qiao, Q., Yang, J. & Zhang, H.M. (2010) Application of least-cost path model to identify a giant panda dispersal corridor network after the Wenchuan earthquake: case study of Wolong Nature Reserve in China. Ecological Modelling 221: 944–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindenmayer, D.B. & Fischer, J. (2006) Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change. An Ecological and Conservation Synthesis. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
Magle, S.B., Theobald, D.M & Crooks, K.R. (2009) A comparison of metrics predicting landscape connectivity for a highly interactive species along an urban gradient in Colorado, USA. Landscape Ecology 24: 267–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallarach, J.M., Rafa, M. & Sargatal, J. (2010) Cantabrian Mountains-Pyrénées-Massif Central-Western Alps great mountain corridor. In: Connectivity Conservation Management. A Global Guide, ed. Worboys, G.L., Francis, W.L. & Lockwood, M., pp. 269–279. London, UK: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Mata, C., Hervás, I., Herranz, J., Suárez, F. & Malo, J.E. (2008) Are motorway wildlife passages worth building? Vertebrate use of road-crossing structures on a Spanish motorway. Journal of Environmental Management 88: 407–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McRae, B.H., Dickson, B.G., Keitt, T.H. & Shah, V.B. (2008) Using circuit theory to model connectivity in ecology and conservation. Ecology 10: 2712–2724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsson, M.P.O, Widen, P. & Larkin, J.L. (2008) Effectiveness of a highway overpass to promote landscape connectivity and movement of moose and roe deer in Sweden. Landscape and Urban Planning 85: 133–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opdam, P. & Wascher, D. (2004) Climate change meets habitat fragmentation: linking landscape and biogeographical scale levels in research and conservation. Biological Conservation 117: 285–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, N. (2005) Pathmatrix: a geographical information system tool to compute effective distances among samples. Molecular Ecology Notes 5: 177–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayfield, B., Fall, A. & Fortin, M.J. (2010) The sensitivity of least-cost habitat graphs to relative cost surface values. Landscape Ecology 25: 519–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roedenbeck, I.A., Fahrig, L., Findlay, C.S., Houlahan, J.E., Jaeger, J.A.G., Klar, N., Kramer-Schadt, S. & van der Grift, E.A. (2007) The Rauischholzhausen agenda for road ecology. Ecology and Society 12: 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rondinini, C. & Doncaster, C.P. (2002) Roads as barriers to movement for hedgehogs. Functional Ecology 16: 504–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothley, K. (2005) Finding and filling the ‘cracks’ in resistance surfaces for least-cost modeling. Ecology and Society 10: 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-González, A., Gurrutxaga, M., Madeira, M.J., Lozano, P.J., Fernández, J.M. & Gómez-Moliner, B. (2010) Estudio de la conectividad ecológica en la CAPV. Genética del paisaje aplicada sobre una especie-objetivo de la red de corredores ecológicos: la marta europea (Martes martes). [Study of ecological connectivity in the Basque country. Landscape genetics applied to a target species of the network of ecological corridors: the European pine marten (Martes martes)] [www document]. URL http://www.ingurumena.ejgv.euskadi.net/contenidos/informe_estudio/genetica_paisaje_m_martes/es_doc/adjuntos/documento.pdf Google Scholar
Saura, S. & Pascual-Hortal, L. (2007) A new habitat availability index to integrate connectivity in landscape conservation planning: comparison with existing indices and application to a case study. Landscape and Urban Planning 83: 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saura, S. & Torné, J. (2009) Conefor Sensinode 2.2: a software package for quantifying the importance of habitat patches for landscape connectivity. Environmental Modelling and Software 24: 35–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saura, S. & Rubio, L. (2010) A common currency for the different ways in which patches and links can contribute to habitat availability and connectivity in the landscape. Ecography 33: 523–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepard, D.B., Kuhns, A.R., Dreslik, M.J. & Phillips, C.A. (2008) Roads as barriers to animal movement in fragmented landscapes. Animal Conservation 11: 288–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirk, A.J., Wallin, D.O., Cushman, S.A., Rice, C.G. & Warheit, K.I. (2010) Inferring landscape effects on gene flow: a new model selection framework. Molecular Ecology 19: 3603–3619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, P.D., Fahrig, L., Henein, K. & Merriam, G. (1993) Connectivity is a vital element of landscape structure. Oikos 68: 571–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urban, D. & Keitt, T. (2001) Landscape connectivity: a graph-theoretic perspective. Ecology 82: 1205–1218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Grift, E.A. & Pouwels, R. (2006) Restoring habitat connectivity across transport corridors: identifying high-priority locations for defragmentation with the use of an expert-based model. In: The Ecology of Transportation: Managing Mobility for the Environment, ed. Davenport, J. & Davenport, J.L.. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
van der Ree, R., Jaeger, J.A.G., van der Grift, E.A. & Clevenger, A.P. (2011) Effects of roads and traffic on wildlife populations and landscape function: road ecology is moving towards larger scales. Ecology and Society 16: 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verbeylen, G., De Bruyn, L., Adriaensen, F. & Matthysen, E. (2003) Does matrix resistance influence red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris L. 1758) distribution in an urban landscape? Landscape Ecology 18: 791–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, M., Velasco, J.M. & Suarez, F. (1995) Permeability of roads and railways to vertebrates: the importance of culverts. Biological Conservation 71: 217–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, D.Y., Xun, B., Shi, P.J., Shao, H.B. & Liu, Y.P. (2012) Ecological restoration planning based on connectivity in an urban area. Ecological Engineering 46: 24–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeller, K.A., McGarigal, K. & Whiteley, A.R. (2012) Estimating landscape resistance to movement: a review. Landscape Ecology 27: 777–797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Gurrutxaga Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Gurrutxaga Supplementary Material(File)
File 17.6 KB