tools and mitigation measures to help reconcile environmental protection and
socio-economic demands (see, e.g., Andreassen et al. 2005; Ford et al. 2009;
Mateus et al. 2011). The potential positive impacts of railways also need to be
better explored, including in particular the prospective for the right-of-way to act
as a shelter for biodiversity (see Chap. 16), which can probably be improved
through well-designed wildlife-friendly management procedures.
Final Remarks
Overall, our book documents the wealth of research that is already available on the
ecology of railways, particularly on the evaluation and mitigation of impacts on
wildlife, illustrating the considerable progress that has been made over the past
decade. However, it also shows that many aspects of railway ecology remain poorly
researched, which makes it difficult to understand what are the main impacts of
railways on important dimensions of biodiversity such as landscape connectivity
and population viability. As a consequence, the evaluation and mitigation of railway impacts continue to be largely driven by the lessons gained from road ecology,
which may often be inadequate for application in the railway context. By reviewing
the state-of-the-art and presenting a diversity of valuable case studies, we hope that
this book can contribute to attract both researchers and practitioners to this interesting field of applied science, thereby promoting the development of new tools and
applications for a better integration of the transportation networks with the challenges associated with the protection of biodiversity.
References
Andreassen, H. P., Gundersen, H., & Storaasthe, T. (2005). The effect of scent-marking, forest
clearing and supplemental feeding on moose-train collisions. Journal of Wildlife Management,
69, 1125–1132.
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.
Baofa, Y., Huyin, H., Yili, Z., Le, Z., & Wanhong, W. (2006). Influence of the Qinghai-Tibetan
railway and highway on the activities of wild animals. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 26, 3917–3923.
Barrientos, R., Martins, R. C., Ascensao, F., D’Amico, M., Moreira, F., & Pereira, H. M., et al. (in
review) Searcher efficiency and carcass persistence in field experiments: meta-analysis with
management guidelines.
Borda-de-Água, L., Grilo, C., & Pereira, H. M. (2014). Modeling the impact of road mortality
on barn owl (Tyto alba) populations using age-structured models. Ecological Modelling, 276,
29–37.
Borda-de-Água, L., Navarro, L., Gavinhos, C., & Pereira, H. M. (2011). Spatio-temporal impacts
of roads on the persistence of populations: Analytic and numerical approaches. Landscape
Ecology, 26, 253–265.
316
R. Barrientos et al.
socio-economic demands (see, e.g., Andreassen et al. 2005; Ford et al. 2009;
Mateus et al. 2011). The potential positive impacts of railways also need to be
better explored, including in particular the prospective for the right-of-way to act
as a shelter for biodiversity (see Chap. 16), which can probably be improved
through well-designed wildlife-friendly management procedures.
Final Remarks
Overall, our book documents the wealth of research that is already available on the
ecology of railways, particularly on the evaluation and mitigation of impacts on
wildlife, illustrating the considerable progress that has been made over the past
decade. However, it also shows that many aspects of railway ecology remain poorly
researched, which makes it difficult to understand what are the main impacts of
railways on important dimensions of biodiversity such as landscape connectivity
and population viability. As a consequence, the evaluation and mitigation of railway impacts continue to be largely driven by the lessons gained from road ecology,
which may often be inadequate for application in the railway context. By reviewing
the state-of-the-art and presenting a diversity of valuable case studies, we hope that
this book can contribute to attract both researchers and practitioners to this interesting field of applied science, thereby promoting the development of new tools and
applications for a better integration of the transportation networks with the challenges associated with the protection of biodiversity.
References
Andreassen, H. P., Gundersen, H., & Storaasthe, T. (2005). The effect of scent-marking, forest
clearing and supplemental feeding on moose-train collisions. Journal of Wildlife Management,
69, 1125–1132.
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.
Baofa, Y., Huyin, H., Yili, Z., Le, Z., & Wanhong, W. (2006). Influence of the Qinghai-Tibetan
railway and highway on the activities of wild animals. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 26, 3917–3923.
Barrientos, R., Martins, R. C., Ascensao, F., D’Amico, M., Moreira, F., & Pereira, H. M., et al. (in
review) Searcher efficiency and carcass persistence in field experiments: meta-analysis with
management guidelines.
Borda-de-Água, L., Grilo, C., & Pereira, H. M. (2014). Modeling the impact of road mortality
on barn owl (Tyto alba) populations using age-structured models. Ecological Modelling, 276,
29–37.
Borda-de-Água, L., Navarro, L., Gavinhos, C., & Pereira, H. M. (2011). Spatio-temporal impacts
of roads on the persistence of populations: Analytic and numerical approaches. Landscape
Ecology, 26, 253–265.
316
R. Barrientos et al.