only a few dead birds were found. In addition, less than 1% of 27,000 bird
movements observed over 400 hours crossed the area of collision risk. In Chap. 8
(Cross-scale Changes in Bird Behavior around a High-speed Railway: from
Landscape Occupation to Infrastructure Use and Collision Risk), Malo and colleagues examine bird mortality on a high-speed railway line crossing a rural
landscape in central Spain. They found that the species commonly associated with
rural and open spaces tended to avoid the railway, while those that are already
associated with man-made structures were attracted by the railway. The latter
species were those most exposed to train collisions; indeed, using video cameras in
the trains’ cockpits to analyze birds’ responses to incoming trains, they observed
that birds become habituated to the presence of trains, a behavior that leads to
increased mortality.
Collision with large mammals is also a matter of concern in railway ecology, and
this is dealt with in the two following chapters. In Chap. 9 (Relative Risk and
Variables Associated with Bear and Ungulate Mortalities Along a Railroad in the
Canadian Rocky Mountains), Dorsey and colleagues report the findings from a
21-year data set of train crashes with elk (Cervus elaphus), deer (Odocoileus spp.),
American black bears (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (U. arctos) in Banff
and Yoho National Parks, Canada. They found that mortality hotspots were affected
by species abundances, train speed and the characteristics of the infrastructure. In
Chap. 10 (Railways and Wildlife: a Case Study of Train-Elephant Collisions in
Northern West Bengal, India), Roy and Sukumar report on the problems of elephant
collision with trains in India, describing the spatial and temporal variations in
mortality and relating these to elephant behavior. They found that mortality occur
mainly at night and in well-defined hotspots, that males are the most susceptible to
train collisions, and that mortality seems to be associated with the periods of
elephants raiding of crops.
The next four chapters deal with problems related to habitat loss due to the
railway infrastructure and its impacts, and the loss of connectivity due to barrier
effects. In Chap. 11 (Assessing Bird Exclusion Effects in a Wetland Crossed by a
Railway), Carlos Godinho and colleagues examined the extent to which aquatic
birds were excluded from wetland habitats close to a railway bridge. They found
that bird densities were similar in areas both close to and far from the bridge, and
thus there were no noticeable exclusion effects on the wetland bird community. In
Chap. 12 (Evaluating the Impacts of a New Railway on Shorebirds: a Case Study in
Central Portugal), Tiago Múrias and colleagues addressed a similar problem, using
comprehensive monitoring of data on bird numbers, behavior and breeding during
the pre-construction, construction, and post-construction phases of a new railway
line. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design, they found that the
abundance of breeding and wintering shorebirds was reduced in saltpans close to
the railway in the post-construction phase. In Chap. 14 (Fragmentation of Ungulate
Habitat and Great Migrations by Railways in Mongolia), Ito and colleagues evaluate the impact of the Ulaanbaatar-Beijing Railway on the great migrations of
ungulates in the largest grassland in the world − Mongolia’s Gobi-steppe ecosystem. They found that fencing along the railway represents a source of mortality and
x
Preface
movements observed over 400 hours crossed the area of collision risk. In Chap. 8
(Cross-scale Changes in Bird Behavior around a High-speed Railway: from
Landscape Occupation to Infrastructure Use and Collision Risk), Malo and colleagues examine bird mortality on a high-speed railway line crossing a rural
landscape in central Spain. They found that the species commonly associated with
rural and open spaces tended to avoid the railway, while those that are already
associated with man-made structures were attracted by the railway. The latter
species were those most exposed to train collisions; indeed, using video cameras in
the trains’ cockpits to analyze birds’ responses to incoming trains, they observed
that birds become habituated to the presence of trains, a behavior that leads to
increased mortality.
Collision with large mammals is also a matter of concern in railway ecology, and
this is dealt with in the two following chapters. In Chap. 9 (Relative Risk and
Variables Associated with Bear and Ungulate Mortalities Along a Railroad in the
Canadian Rocky Mountains), Dorsey and colleagues report the findings from a
21-year data set of train crashes with elk (Cervus elaphus), deer (Odocoileus spp.),
American black bears (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (U. arctos) in Banff
and Yoho National Parks, Canada. They found that mortality hotspots were affected
by species abundances, train speed and the characteristics of the infrastructure. In
Chap. 10 (Railways and Wildlife: a Case Study of Train-Elephant Collisions in
Northern West Bengal, India), Roy and Sukumar report on the problems of elephant
collision with trains in India, describing the spatial and temporal variations in
mortality and relating these to elephant behavior. They found that mortality occur
mainly at night and in well-defined hotspots, that males are the most susceptible to
train collisions, and that mortality seems to be associated with the periods of
elephants raiding of crops.
The next four chapters deal with problems related to habitat loss due to the
railway infrastructure and its impacts, and the loss of connectivity due to barrier
effects. In Chap. 11 (Assessing Bird Exclusion Effects in a Wetland Crossed by a
Railway), Carlos Godinho and colleagues examined the extent to which aquatic
birds were excluded from wetland habitats close to a railway bridge. They found
that bird densities were similar in areas both close to and far from the bridge, and
thus there were no noticeable exclusion effects on the wetland bird community. In
Chap. 12 (Evaluating the Impacts of a New Railway on Shorebirds: a Case Study in
Central Portugal), Tiago Múrias and colleagues addressed a similar problem, using
comprehensive monitoring of data on bird numbers, behavior and breeding during
the pre-construction, construction, and post-construction phases of a new railway
line. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design, they found that the
abundance of breeding and wintering shorebirds was reduced in saltpans close to
the railway in the post-construction phase. In Chap. 14 (Fragmentation of Ungulate
Habitat and Great Migrations by Railways in Mongolia), Ito and colleagues evaluate the impact of the Ulaanbaatar-Beijing Railway on the great migrations of
ungulates in the largest grassland in the world − Mongolia’s Gobi-steppe ecosystem. They found that fencing along the railway represents a source of mortality and
x
Preface