Abstract
Roads threaten animal species through habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, and direct mortality. It is crucial to understand how species respond to linear infrastructure for effective conservation of animal communities in fragmented landscapes. We assessed relationships between amphibian abundance and roads/ railways and habitat fragmentation. We examined whether the combined effects of habitat loss and roads or railways (accessible habitat) was a better predictor of amphibian abundance than (1) the total amount of habitat surrounding ponds, (2) distance to a highway or railway, or (3) surrounding road cover. Aquatic surveys for amphibian larvae were conducted at 30 freshwater ponds over the breeding season in a mixed peri-urban/ agricultural landscape in Hungary. Landscape variables were quantified within a 1000-m radius surrounding ponds and habitat variables were measured at the local (pond) scale. The larvae of seven amphibian species were detected. There were strong relationships between the abundance of amphibian larvae and the distance to a highway and the proportion of road cover within 1000 m of ponds. Relationships with accessible habitat and total habitat amount were uncertain, while there were no clear relationships with a major railway. Larval abundance increased with pond size, but there were mixed relationships with the presence of fish. Our results suggest that road effects were having a stronger impact on amphibian abundance than the combined effects of roads and habitat amount in the study area. Highways appeared to be negatively impacting amphibian communities within a wide road-effect zone up to 1 km from ponds. However, our results were obtained from a single-season snap-shot study and multi-season surveys are likely required to reduce uncertainty in the model predictions. Our analysis suggests that road mitigation projects for amphibians should create large ponds in areas with no highways and low road density, and with connectivity to surrounding habitats.
Highlights
Urbanisation is regarded as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and affects many of Earth’s ecosystems through habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation (Czech et al 2000; Grimm et al 2008; Shochat et al 2010)
We examined whether the combined effects of habitat loss and roads or railways was a better predictor of amphibian abundance than (1) the total amount of habitat surrounding ponds, (2) distance to a highway or railway, or (3) surrounding road cover
Our results suggest that road effects were having a stronger impact on amphibian abundance than the combined effects of roads and habitat amount in the study area
Summary
Urbanisation is regarded as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and affects many of Earth’s ecosystems through habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation (Czech et al 2000; Grimm et al 2008; Shochat et al 2010). The European continent is highly urbanised and it is predicted that by 2050, 74% of the human population in Europe will live in cities (UNDESA, 2018) This shift in the dis tribution of the human population will likely have profound impacts on biodiversity in both rural and urban areas, with exponential growth of linear infrastructures continuing to fragment the landscape (Pullin et al 2009). Central European countries follow this trend (Selva et al 2011), and since 2010, 500 km of new highways have been built in Hungary (MTI, 2020). This will likely have severe implications for local and regional biodiversity
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