What’s Next? Railway Ecology in the 21st Century

Barrientos, Rafael; Borda‐de‐Água, Luís; Brum, Pedro Erê Disconzi; Beja, Pedro; Pereira, Henrique M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_19

Cited by 8 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Herbivores are generally struck more often by trains than carnivores, which could, however, be reflective of their relative abundance [31]. Our findings confirm that wildlife responses to railway effects vary among species [17,31,32], and species-specific investigations are important and much-needed due to very little existing railway ecology research.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

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Seasonal Use of Railways by Wildlife

Popp

Hamr

2018

Diversity

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Despite the rapid advancements in the field of road ecology, very little research has been done in railway ecology. Basic research, such as railway use by wildlife, is relatively undocumented, albeit very important in understanding the potential negative and positive effects of railways on wildlife and ecosystems. We provide one of the first studies documenting wildlife railway use using motion-triggered cameras along a 20 km stretch of railway in Ontario. Our objectives were to develop a much-needed baseline understanding of railway use by endemic wildlife species, investigate differences in frequency of use among species, compare diurnal versus nocturnal use, and determine if railway use by wildlife was uniform or spatially varied. We found a significant proportion of medium-to-large resident mammalian fauna and several avian species non-uniformly using the studied railway. Some species used the railway as a travel corridor, while others appeared to use it incidentally. Diel and seasonal patterns of use were apparent for many species. Our findings emphasize the importance of species-specific investigations of railway ecology. The collection of baseline information on railway use by wildlife is critical in view of the dearth of available data, and we highly encourage further research in all aspects of wildlife–railway ecology.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…These findings suggest that habitat is an important predictor of wildlife railway use. Although very little research has investigated patterns of wildlife railway use, railway collision hotspots have been identified for several species and are likely an artifact of changes in habitat and topography along the railway [21,32,34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Use of Railways by Wildlife

Popp

Hamr

2018

Diversity

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“…In this synthetic paper, we described a ubiquitous, but understudied, form of ecological trap caused by transportation infrastructure: mortality from wildlife–train collisions. This global problem will grow considerably in the decades ahead owing to increasing reliance on railways and higher train speeds, in turn, needed to support simultaneously economic growth and emission targets to limit climate change [99,100]. Our opportunity to study this global problem stemmed from the social context of a charismatic, locally threatened species that appeared to be endangered by a historic, nationally important railway in Canada's first National Park.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…R. Soc. B 374: 20180050 [99,100]. Our opportunity to study this global problem stemmed from the social context of a charismatic, locally threatened species that appeared to be endangered by a historic, nationally important railway in Canada's first National Park.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal learning may contribute to both problems and solutions for wildlife–train collisions

Clair

Backs

Friesen

et al. 2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Transportation infrastructure can cause an ecological trap if it attracts wildlife for foraging and travel opportunities, while increasing the risk of mortality from collisions. This situation occurs for a vulnerable population of grizzly bears ( Ursus arctos ) in Banff National Park, Canada, where train strikes have become a leading cause of mortality. We explored this problem with analyses of rail-associated food attractants, habitat use of GPS-collared bears and patterns of past mortality. Bears appeared to be attracted to grain spilled from rail cars, enhanced growth of adjacent vegetation and train-killed ungulates with rail use that increased in spring and autumn, and in areas where trains slowed, topography was rugged, and human density was low. However, areas with higher grain deposits or greater use by bears did not predict sites of past mortality. The onset of reported train strikes occurred amid several other interacting changes in this landscape, including the cessation of lethal bear management, changes in the distribution and abundance of ungulates, increasing human use and new anthropogenic features. We posit that rapid learning by bears is critical to their persistence in this landscape and that this capacity might be enhanced to prevent train strikes in future with simple warning devices, such as the one we invented, that signal approaching trains. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.

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“…Here, we describe corridors from a biodiversity perspective and identify the elements of best practice in biodiversity impact mitigation, considering related ecosystem services where possible. We focus on the specific nature of these complex initiatives acknowledging that the science to understand and manage the impacts of individual infrastructure projects has many years of history (Spellerberg and Morrison, 1998) and is well-advanced, especially for roads (Coffin, 2007;Fahrig and Rytwinski, 2009;van der Ree et al, 2011;Forman et al, 2015;Bennett, 2017;Collinson et al, 2019) but also railways (Barrientos et al, 2017(Barrientos et al, , 2019. Here we are particularly interested in development corridors more broadly and how impacts on biodiversity are assessed and what mitigation measures (if any) are proposed.…”

Section: Figure 1 | (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating the Impacts of Development Corridors on Biodiversity: A Global Review

Juffe‐Bignoli

Burgess

Hobbs³

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Development corridors are extensive, often transnational and linear, geographical areas targeted for investment to help achieve sustainable development. They often comprise the creation of hard infrastructure (i.e., physical structures) and soft infrastructure (i.e., policies, plans, and programmes) involving a variety of actors. They are globally widespread, and likely to be a significant driver of habitat loss. Here, we describe the development corridors phenomenon from a biodiversity perspective and identify the elements of best practice in biodiversity impact mitigation. We use these to carry out a review of the peer reviewed literature on corridors to respond to three questions: (i) how impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services are assessed; (ii) what mitigation measures are discussed to manage these impacts; and (iii) to what extent do these measures approximate to best practice. We found that of 271 publications on development corridors across all continents (except for Antarctica) mentioning biodiversity or ecosystem services, only 100 (37%) assessed impacts on biodiversity and 7 (3%) on ecosystem services. Importantly, only half of these (52, 19% of the total 271 articles) discussed mitigation measures to manage these impacts. These measures focused on avoidance and minimisation and there was scant mention of restoration or ecological compensation illustrating a deficient application of the mitigation hierarchy. We conclude that the academic literature on corridors does not give sufficient consideration to comprehensive mitigation of biodiversity impacts. To change this, impact assessment research needs to acknowledge the complexity of such multi-project and multi-stakeholder initiatives, quantify biodiversity losses due to the full suite of their potential direct, indirect and cumulative impacts, and follow all the steps of the mitigation hierarchy impact framework. We suggest a series of research avenues and policy recommendations to improve impact assessments of corridors towards achieving better biodiversity outcomes.

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What’s Next? Railway Ecology in the 21st Century

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Seasonal Use of Railways by Wildlife

Seasonal Use of Railways by Wildlife

Animal learning may contribute to both problems and solutions for wildlife–train collisions

Mitigating the Impacts of Development Corridors on Biodiversity: A Global Review

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