Major Roads Have a Negative Impact on the Tawny Owl<i>Strix aluco</i>and the Little Owl<i>Athene noctua</i>Populations

Silva, Clara C.; Lourenço, Rui; Godinho, Sérgio; Gomes, E. P. reira Cabral; Sabino-Marques, Helena; Medinas, Denis; Neves, Vânia de Oliveira; Silva, Carmo; Rabaça, João E.; Mira, António

doi:10.3161/000164512x653917

Cited by 41 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Nevertheless, only three of these studies determined the extent of the road-effect zone [56][57][58]. This low number was surprising considering the increasing popularity of tools, such a simulation models (see Consequences of Road Networks on Wildlife Populations section below) that are used to explore the impact of road networks on wildlife populations.…”

Section: Indirect Impacts Of Roads On Wildlifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The accuracy of such models depends on the inclusion of the roadeffect zone as it is a more realistic representation of the potential habitat loss associated with roads. For example, a study on Tawny owls (Strix aluco) in rural Portugal found that owl density could be impacted up to 2 km from a major road [56]. Even for a common and widespread species such an impact has the potential to influence population numbers and persistence in the area.…”

Section: Indirect Impacts Of Roads On Wildlifementioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Road Density and Pattern on the Conservation of Species and Biodiversity

Bennett

2017

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

129

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The development and presence of roads can reduce landscape permeability, lead to habitat loss, and increase habitat fragmentation. It is these fundamental changes in landscape structure that can have both direct and indirect impacts on the conservation of species and biodiversity. In this review, I examine 215 research studies conducted between 2011 and 2015 that explore the impacts of roads and road networks on a wide range of species. I divided these studies into four main categories: 1) the direct effects of roads on wildlife, 2) the indirect effects of roads on wildlife, 3) the consequences of road networks on wildlife populations, and 4) survey design and mitigation including both innovations and evaluations. I found that the majority of studies (38%) explored the indirect effects of roads on wildlife, including displacement, fitness consequences, and road crossing ability of wildlife. Nevertheless, despite there being a pressing need to understand how existing road networks impact wildlife and how increasing road density may influence local and regional population persistence, only 10% of the studies considered the implications of road networks on wildlife. However, there is an increasing trend towards the development of predictive models that can be used for a better understanding of road network impacts, assess landscape connectivity, and devise mitigation. This review also highlighted the continued need to devise and evaluate mitigation measures so transportation authorities and conservation practitioners may be better equipped to address the ecological implications of roads and proposed road development.

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Section: Indirect Impacts Of Roads On Wildlifementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Indirect Impacts Of Roads On Wildlifementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Road Density and Pattern on the Conservation of Species and Biodiversity

Bennett

2017

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

129

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“…These studies on Spotted Owls applied temporary noise stimuli, e.g., helicopters, chainsaws, or motorcycles, so it is not known how owls respond to a permanent noise source on the landscape. Increased proximity to roads and increased traffic volume has been found to decrease owl density and occupancy of sites (Hindmarch et al 2012, Silva et al 2012, which may be at least partially due to the masking effect of traffic noise. However, roads have several factors other than noise (vehicle collisions, pollution, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of industrial noise on owl occupancy in the boreal forest at multiple spatial scales

Shonfield¹,

Bayne²

2017

ACE

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ABSTRACT. Noise in natural environments can mask important acoustic signals used for animal communication. Owls use vocal communication to attract mates and defend territories, and also rely on acoustic cues to locate their prey. Industrial noise has been shown to negatively affect owl hunting success and reduce foraging efficiency by affecting their ability to detect prey, but it is not known if this results in reduced habitat suitability for owls in areas near industrial noise sources. To determine if owls avoid areas surrounding industrial noise sources in northeastern Alberta and at what scale, we acoustically surveyed for owls at sites with chronic industrial noise, sites with intermittent traffic noise, and sites with no noise. We deployed autonomous recording units at multiple stations within each site to detect territorial individuals vocalizing. Detections of owls were extracted from the recordings using automated species recognition and analyzed using occupancy models at two spatial scales. Barred Owls (Strix varia), Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus), and Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus) were equally likely to occupy both types of noisy sites compared to sites with no noise, indicating that site level occupancy (representing a home range scale) was unaffected by the presence of noise sources on the landscape. On a smaller scale, there was no decline in station level occupancy (representing use of the area surrounding recording stations) at stations with higher noise levels for either of the three owl species. Our study contributes to research on the effects of anthropogenic noise, but suggests the effect on owls is minimal, and unlikely to result in a population change.Effets du bruit industriel sur l'occupation de l'habitat par des hiboux dans la forêt boréale à de multiples échelles spatiales RÉSUMÉ. Le bruit dans l'environnement naturel peut masquer d'importants signaux acoustiques de communication animale. Les hiboux utilisent les communications vocales afin d'attirer un partenaire et pour défendre un territoire, et aussi ils dépendent de leur acuité auditive afin de localiser leurs proies. Il a été démontré que le bruit industriel affecte négativement le succès de chasse des hiboux et diminue l'efficacité d'acquisition de nourriture en affectant leur capacité à détecter les proies, mais on ne sait pas si cela se traduit par une réduction de l'habitat convenable pour les hiboux dans les zones près des sources de bruit industriel. Afin de déterminer si les hiboux évitent les zones entourant les sources de bruit industriel au nord-est de l'Alberta, et à quelle échelle, nous avons échantillonné acoustiquement des sites à bruits industriels chroniques, des sites à bruits intermittents, ainsi que des sites sans bruit. Nous avons déployés des unités autonomes d'enregistrement à plusieurs stations dans chaque site afin de détecter des individus vocalisant dans leur territoire. Les vocalisations de hiboux détectées furent extraites des enregistrements par un système de reconnaissance de l'espèce automati...

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“…The development of road networks and increased traffic volume is one the most significant causes of habitat fragmentation (Forman and Alexander, 1998;Trombulak and Frissell, 2000;Forman et al, 2003;Fahrig and Rytwinski, 2009;Selva et al, 2011) that has lead to decreased populations of many animal species (Warren et al, 2001;Fahrig, 2003;Forman et al, 2003;Thomas et al, 2004;Biesmeijer et al, 2006;Silva et al, 2012). Several studies, mostly carried out on mammals, amphibians and some insects, indicate that roads dividing habitat fragments may be an obstacle to the movements of individuals and, therefore, to the gene flow between the fragments (Bhattacharya et al, 2003;Shepard et al, 2008;Smith-Patten and Patten, 2008;Jackson and Fahrig, 2011;Soluk et al, 2011;Neumann et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting road mortality and the suitability of road verges for butterflies

Skórka

Lenda

Moroń

et al. 2013

Biological Conservation

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a b s t r a c tLittle is known of the impact of roads on insect mortality. This is a significant gap, because road verges are regarded as an important tool for insect conservation. In this study, we investigated which factors affect the number of roadkills in grassland butterflies and, simultaneously, the species composition and abundance on road verges. We established sixty transects, two hundred metres long, on roads in farmland areas and with differing traffic volume. Each transect consisted of two parallel lines, one on either side of the road. Ordination methods showed that the species composition of the butterflies killed on the roads was primarily explained by the species composition of those living on the road verges. At least 6.8% of the butterflies were estimated to end up roadkilled. Also, the number of species and abundance of butterflies killed on the roads were positively dependent on both the abundance of butterflies on the road verges and on the traffic volume, but negatively correlated with the richness of plant species on the road verges. However, the proportion of individuals killed was negatively linked with the abundance of butterflies on the road verges, the richness of the plant species and the share of grassland in the landscape. There was a statistically significant tendency for small-bodied species to be overrepresented in the roadkill samples. Our results indicate that the verges which were of high conservation value for butterflies suffered the least from road mortality. The sowing of plant species, less frequent mowing and maintaining a high grassland cover in the vicinity of roads are recommended conservation actions for the improved conservation value of road verges for butterflies.

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Major Roads Have a Negative Impact on the Tawny OwlStrix alucoand the Little OwlAthene noctuaPopulations

Cited by 41 publications

References 37 publications

Effects of Road Density and Pattern on the Conservation of Species and Biodiversity

Effects of Road Density and Pattern on the Conservation of Species and Biodiversity

The effect of industrial noise on owl occupancy in the boreal forest at multiple spatial scales

Factors affecting road mortality and the suitability of road verges for butterflies

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