The Environmental Impact of not Having Paved Roads in Arid Regions: An Example from Mongolia

Keshkamat, S.S.; Tsendbazar, Nandin‐Erdene; Zuidgeest, Mark; Veen, A. van der; Leeuw, Jan de

doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0155-3

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Adaptive management decision processes depend on timely data that accurately reflect the impacts of management decisions (both action and inaction) on ecosystem processes and associated services. One of the more pressing rangeland management concerns in arid and semiarid lands globally is the proliferation of roads, off-highway vehicles, utility transmission lines, power generation, and other infrastructure-and transportation-associated disturbances (Okayasu et al 2007;Watts et al 2007;Leu et al 2008;Walston et al 2009;Leinwand et al 2010;Keshkamat et al 2012). However, there are relatively few cost-effective methods for detecting the effects of such disturbance activity on soils, vegetation, and hydrology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Impacts of Roads: Application of a Standard Assessment Protocol

Duniway

2013

Rangeland Ecology & Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adaptive management of road networks depends on timely data that accurately reflect the impacts those systems are having on ecosystem processes and associated services. In the absence of reliable data, land managers are left with little more than observations and perceptions to support management decisions of road-associated disturbances. Roads can negatively impact the soil, hydrologic, plant, and animal processes on which virtually all ecosystem services depend. The Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH) protocol is a qualitative method that has been demonstrated to be effective in characterizing impacts of roads. The goal of this study were to develop, describe, and test an approach for using IIRH to systematically evaluate road impacts across large, diverse arid and semiarid landscapes. We developed a stratified random sampling approach to plot selection based on ecological potential, road inventory data, and image interpretation of road impacts. The test application on a semiarid landscape in southern New Mexico, United States, demonstrates that the approach developed is sensitive to road impacts across a broad range of ecological sites but that not all the types of stratification were useful. Ecological site and road inventory strata accounted for significant variability in the functioning of ecological processes but stratification based on apparent impact did not. Analysis of the repeatability of IIRH applied to road plots indicates that the method is repeatable but consensus evaluations based on multiple observers should be used to minimize risk of bias. Landscape-scale analysis of impacts by roads of contrasting designs (maintained dirt or gravel roads vs. non-or infrequently maintained roads) suggests that future travel management plans for the study area should consider concentrating traffic on fewer roads that are well designed and maintained. Application of the approach by land managers will likely provide important insights into minimizing impacts of road networks on key ecosystem services.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Impacts of Roads: Application of a Standard Assessment Protocol

Duniway

2013

Rangeland Ecology & Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, it is suggested that a higher value of spatial and spectral detail is appropriate in the case that the classified object is smaller than the spatial resolution of satellite image [35,36]. Therefore, values of spectral and spatial detail were set to 18 for all imagery (possible range: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The size of objects is defined by the parameter of minimum segment size, which merges segments smaller than this criterion with their best fitting neighboring segment.…”

Section: Segmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring Oil Exploitation Infrastructure and Dirt Roads with Object-Based Image Analysis and Random Forest in the Eastern Mongolian Steppe

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Information on the spatial distribution of human disturbance is important for assessing and monitoring land degradation. In the Eastern Mongolian Steppe Ecosystem, one of the major driving factors of human-induced land degradation is the expansion of road networks mainly due to intensifications of oil exploration and exploitation. So far, neither the extents of road networks nor the extent of surrounding grasslands affected by the oil industry are monitored which is generally labor consuming. This causes that no information on the changes in the area which is affected by those disturbance drivers is available. Consequently, the study aim is to provide a cost-effective methodology to classify infrastructure and oil exploitation areas from remotely sensed images using object-based classifications with Random Forest. By combining satellite data with different spatial and spectral resolutions (PlanetScope, RapidEye, and Landsat ETM+), the product delivers data since 2005. For the classification variables, segmentation, spectral characteristics, and indices were extracted from all above mentioned imagery and used as predictors. Results show that overall accuracies of land use maps ranged 73%–93% mainly depending on satellites’ spatial resolution. Since 2005, the area of grassland disturbed by dirt roads and oil exploitation infrastructure increased by 88% with its highest expansion by 47% in the period 2005–2010. Settlements and croplands remained relatively constant throughout the 13 years. Comparison of multiscale classification suggests that, although high spatial resolutions are clearly beneficial, all datasets were useful to delineate linear features such as roads. Consequently, the results of this study provide an effective evaluation for the potential of Random Forest for extracting relatively narrow linear features such as roads from multiscale satellite images and map products that are possible to use for detailed land degradation assessments.

show abstract

“…Rehabilitation of unused tracks and roads may also form an essential part of soil conservation or erosion mitigation programs in grazed landscapes. The type of linear infrastructure planned should also be appropriate for its use (Keshkamat et al, 2012).…”

Section: Management and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linear infrastructure impacts on landscape hydrology

Raiter

Prober

Possingham

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The extent of roads and other forms of linear infrastructure is burgeoning worldwide, but their impacts are inadequately understood and thus poorly mitigated. Previous studies have identified many potential impacts, including alterations to the hydrological functions and soil processes upon which ecosystems depend. However, these impacts have seldom been quantified at a regional level, particularly in arid and semi-arid systems where the gap in knowledge is the greatest, and impacts potentially the most severe. To explore the effects of extensive track, road, and rail networks on surface hydrology at a regional level we assessed over 1000 km of linear infrastructure, including approx. 300 locations where ephemeral streams crossed linear infrastructure, in the largely intact landscapes of Australia's Great Western Woodlands. We found a high level of association between linear infrastructure and altered surface hydrology, with erosion and pooling 5 and 6 times as likely to occur on-road than off-road on average (1.06 erosional and 0.69 pooling features km on vehicle tracks, compared with 0.22 and 0.12 km, off-road, respectively). Erosion severity was greater in the presence of tracks, and 98% of crossings of ephemeral streamlines showed some evidence of impact on water movement (flow impedance (62%); diversion of flows (73%); flow concentration (76%); and/or channel initiation (31%)). Infrastructure type, pastoral land use, culvert presence, soil clay content and erodibility, mean annual rainfall, rainfall erosivity, topography and bare soil cover influenced the frequency and severity of these impacts. We conclude that linear infrastructure frequently affects ephemeral stream flows and intercepts natural overland and near-surface flows, artificially changing site-scale moisture regimes, with some parts of the landscape becoming abnormally wet and other parts becoming water-starved. In addition, linear infrastructure frequently triggers or exacerbates erosion, leading to soil loss and degradation. Where linear infrastructure densities are high, their impacts on ecological processes are likely to be considerable. Linear infrastructure is widespread across much of this relatively intact region, but there remain areas with very low infrastructure densities that need to be protected from further impacts. There is substantial scope for mitigating the impacts of existing and planned infrastructure developments.

show abstract

The Environmental Impact of not Having Paved Roads in Arid Regions: An Example from Mongolia

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

Assessing Impacts of Roads: Application of a Standard Assessment Protocol

Assessing Impacts of Roads: Application of a Standard Assessment Protocol

Monitoring Oil Exploitation Infrastructure and Dirt Roads with Object-Based Image Analysis and Random Forest in the Eastern Mongolian Steppe

Linear infrastructure impacts on landscape hydrology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About