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Synopsis: A review of the scientific literature describing the effects of linear developments on wildlife, especially large mammals, was provided. Of particular interest were the types of roads and linear developments created by the oil and pipeline industries in western Canada. The effects of linear developments (roads, powerline/pipeline rights-of-way, deforested strips) on wildlife were examined in the context of regional and landscape ecology. The review describes the different classes of linear disturbances, the various response categories for animal species and the impacts on species for the different classes. The review also provides potential mitigations and recommendations for landscape scale planning...
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Synopsis: Recognizing that natural and human disturbances cause significant changes to landscape composition and ecosystem function, this report aims to identify and describe key indicators of environmental sustainability, categorized by vegetation, biodiversity, and watershed characteristics. Measurable indicators of environmental sustainability, including landscape indicators summarized in the vegetation indicators category, were distilled from a wide-ranging literature review. These indicators are intended to serve as metrics of environmental quality that assist land use planners in determining if management goals have been reached. As such, the report provides an overview, assessment, and recommended uses for...
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Synopsis: This report evaluates habitat requirements of the American badger according to parameters of soil texture, graminoid cover, slope, and proximity to roads. Badgers tend to prefer sandy loam and silty loam, medium and moderately coarse textured soils. In terms of graminoid coverage, badgers generally prefer open grassland habitat, but can also be found in agriculturally dominated landscapes containing isolated pockets of Richardson 's ground squirrel colonies. Graminoid coverage of 23% was chosen as the minimum requirement for suitable badger habitat. As slope increases, habitat suitability decreases to a point at which the likelihood of badgers existing there (i.e. cliffs and badlands) is extremely low...
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Synopsis: Agricultural intensification and expansion are major present and future causes of global ecosystem disruption. Natural and semi-natural reserve areas in agroecosystems are thought to be important for preservation of essential ecosystem services such as pollination, but data about land use patterns and pollinator abundance are lacking. We assessed wild bee populations in canola fields in an agriculturally intense area where virtually all land was either tilled agricultural fields or semi-natural grazed pasturelands, with the expectation that mosaics of land use types may better support ecosystem services than homogenous crop areas. Fields were chosen in two categories, five with little or no pastureland...
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Synopsis: The goal of this study was to examine contaminant loadings associated with stormwater runoff from recently burned areas in urban fringe areas of southern California, to derive regional patterns of runoff and contaminant loadings in this context. Postfire stormwater runoff was sampled from five wildfires that each burned between 115 and 658 km2 of natural open space between 2003 and 2009. The area is characterized by classic Mediterranean climate conditions of relatively mild to cool wet winter and warm to hot dry summers. Between two and five storm events were sampled per site over the first one to two years following the fires for basic constituents, metals, nutrients, total suspended solids, and polycyclic...
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Synopsis: Wind erosion is considered a problem when the erosion level exceeds the tolerable limit for the soil or when the erosion level is great enough to damage the crops being grown. Wind erosion control must be tailored to each farming situation and may be achieved through a combination of practices that ultimately create isolated fields, the key to wind erosion control systems. Wind erosion control measures can be grouped into four components: (1) tree and shrub windbreaks; (2) annual and perennial vegetative barriers; (3) strip cropping and trap strips; and (4) crop residues and cover crops. Wind control system design involves 4 basic principles: (1) erosion rates are predicted using the wind erosion equation;...
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Conclusions: The study recorded flushing responses (whether or not an animal fled in response to disturbance) and flush distances of 6 species of diurnal raptors exposed to walking and vehicle disturbances in order to calculate minimum distances for species-specific buffer zones. In general, walking disturbances resulted in more flushing than vehicle disturbances for all species except the prairie falcon. For walking disturbances, a linear relationship existed between flight distance and body mass, with lighter species flushing at shorter distances; however, this trend did not hold for vehicle disturbance. Birds flushed at much shorter distances in response to approaching vehicles. Thresholds/Learnings: Buffer...
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Synopsis: Windbreaks are a major component of successful agricultural landscapes. At the farm scale, they help control erosion and blowing snow, improve animal health and survival under winter conditions, reduce energy consumption of the farmstead, and enhance habitat diversity. At a landscape scale, they provide habitat for various types of wildlife and have the potential to contribute significant benefits to the carbon balance equation, thereby easing the economic burdens associated with climate change. The effectiveness of a windbreak is determined partially by its external structure including its height, length, orientation, continuity, width, and cross-sectional shape and partially by its internal structure...
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Conclusions: Caribou demonstrated patterns of avoidance near linear features such as pipelines, roads, and other oil field structures. Females demonstrated heightened avoidance, especially during calving seasons. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study documented the behavioural reactions of caribou to oil development in the circumpolar regions of the northern hemisphere. Researchers observed patterns of avoidance near linear features such as pipelines, roads, and other oil field structures. Female caribou, especially those accompanied by calves avoided these areas in particular. Male caribou were more apt to occupy areas influenced by oil field structures and activity. In summary, the patterns oil field development...
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Synopsis: Classical demographic methods applied to life history data on the northern spotted owl yield an estimate of the annual geometric rate of increase for the population of λ = 0.96 ± 0.03, which is not significantly different from that for a stable population (λ = 1.00). Sensitivity analysis indicates that adult annual survivorship has by far the largest influence on λ, followed by the probability that juveniles survive dispersal, and the adult annual fecundity. Substantial temporal fluctuations in demographic parameters have little effect on the long-run growth rate of the population because of the long adult life expectancy. A model of dispersal and territory occupancy that assumes demographic equilibrium...
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Conclusions: Report identifies regional patterns of habitat disturbance, land use practices, and population trends relative to greater sage-grouse. In general, the most important landscape characteristics influencing sage-grouse populations are the proximity of leks (areas in which males perform to nesting habitat for and The report examined findings from studies that indicate several area and distance specific conservation thresholds for maintaining viable sage-grouse habitat. Thresholds/Learnings: Male sage-grouse prefer sod-forming grasses or bare ground for leks; female sage-grouse prefer dense sagebrush stands surrounding leks for nesting; gentle terrain characterized by <10% slope; <5% of existing sagebrush...
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Conclusions: Grizzly bear population fragmentation corresponded to the presence of settled mountain valleys and major highways. In these disturbed areas, the inter-area movements of female bears was affected more than for male bears. Without female connectivity, small subpopulations of grizzly bears are not viable over the long term. Thresholds/Learnings: Females grizzlies reduced their movement rates drastically when settlement increased to >20% of a given area. In highly settled areas (>50% settlement), both sexes demonstrated similar reductions in movement. Synopsis: Researchers studied the current state and potential causes of population fragmentation in grizzly bears over western Canada, the Greater Yellowstone...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Alberta, British Columbia, Canadian Rockies, Chilcotin Ranges and Fraser Plateau, Clear Hills and Western Alberta Upland, All tags...
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Conclusions: Grizzly bears avoid high volume roads (25,000 vehicles/day). High quality habitat determines movement decisions relative to roads. Grizzly bears will cross high volume roads to access high-quality habitat. Grizzly bears use areas close to roads more than expected, in particular low-volume roads (10,000 vehicles/day). Prevent loss of habitat connectivity with the following mitigation: maintain high-quality habitat adjacent to roads, install continuous highway fencing and create wildlife passages. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: The study examined the relationships among grizzly bears, their habitats and roads in Banff National Park, a protected area characterized by a major transportation corridor. This...
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Conclusions: Despite the fact that valuable grizzly habitat tends to coincide with the location of roads, grizzlies strongly avoided roads regardless of traffic volume, suggesting that even a few vehicles can displace bears from adjacent habitats. Thresholds/Learnings: Grizzlies strongly avoided areas within 100m of all roads Synopsis: This study aimed to determine whether grizzly bears were displaced by roads associated with resource extraction industries in the Rocky Mountains. Since many habitats close to roads contained important bear foods, researchers expected bears to frequent these roads, despite the presence of human activity. However, study results indicated that grizzlies strongly avoided roads regardless...
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Conclusions: Successional changes resulting from a legacy of fire suppression and other agricultural and access disturbances combine to create the current hetergeneous landscape mosaic. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: Disturbance is considered to be a major factor influencing landscape pattern and vegetation composition. However, the presettlement vegetation composition of three Ohio (U.S.A) counties was controlled largely by soil texture, soil drainage, and topography. In most cases, both disturbance regime and local site conditions can explain presettlement landscape pattern. This study examines the roles of edaphic conditions landscape features such as topography, and fire in contributing to (1) the abundance,...
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Synopsis: This paper summarizes significant findings from literature related to the effect of noise on wildlife, emphasizing the effects of road traffic noise on birds. Many studies from the United States and the Netherlands indicate that road noise has a negative effect on bird populations, particularly during breeding season in a variety of species. In this paper, ‘effect distances’—distances at which bird density decreases—are reported at a range of two to three thousand meters from the road. Effect distances tend to increase with traffic density, being the greatest near large, multilane highways. In a study of woodland species, 26 of 43 (60%) were found to show a decrease in population densities with effect...
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Conclusions: Few species were in fact influenced by grassland amount or fragmentation. In contrast, distance to edge and local vegetation characteristics had significant effects on densities and nest success of many species. Thresholds/Learnings: Great Plains toads thrive when >75% of the landscape is composed of native prairie components (i.e. shrubs, graminoids, riparian areas, lakes, wetlands, and trees) . Synopsis: In Alberta, Great Plains toads are found in the dry mixed grass of the southeastern corner of the province. Typical breeding habitat tends to be in shallow ponds with relatively fresh, clear water in sandy soil. In this report habitat suitability was evaluated for the Great Plains toad according...
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Synopsis: One of the most important trends in biodiversity is the increase in the number of species as the land area increases. Botanists call this trend the species-area relationship, and it is one of the most dependable rules in biology. Many human activities on the landscape, influence species directly by disrupting their habitat, by removing other organisms upon which they may depend, or by injuring or killing them. Less direct, but in many cases equally as disruptive to the native species of an area, is the introduction of exotic species. In this study, data from published studies on flora over the last two centuries was used to produce contour maps of flora size and percentage of exotic species in North America...
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Conclusions: The negative effects of patch size and isolation on species may not occur until the landscape consists of less than 10% suitable habitat for birds, and 30% suitable habitat for mammals. Thresholds/Learnings: The negative effects of patch size and isolation on species may not occur until the landscape consists of less than 10% suitable habitat for birds, and 30% suitable habitat for mammals. Synopsis: This study involved a review of studies on birds and mammals in habitat patches in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat. The findings demonstrate that there exists a threshold in proportion of suitable habitat in the landscape, above which fragmentation becomes pure habitat loss....
map background search result map search result map Great Plains Toad (Bufo cognatus) Caribou in the Changing North Changing Patterns in the Number of Species in North American Floras. Synthesis of noise effects on wildlife populations. Conservation Assessment of Greater Sage-Grouse and Sagebrush Habitats Population fragmentation and inter-ecosystem movements of grizzly bears in western Canada and the northern United States. Grizzly bears and resource extraction industries: effects of road on behavior, habitat use, and demography. Relationships among grizzly bears, highways, and habitat in Banff-Bow Valley, Alberta, Canada. Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Effects of site, landscape features, and fire regime on vegetation patterns in presettlement southern Wisconsin Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment The Effects of Linear Developments on Wildlife: A Review of Selected Scientific Literature Demographic models of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) Can pastureland increase wild bee abundance in agriculturally intense areas? Prairie Falcon. Response of wintering grassland raptors to human disturbance. Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Windbreaks in North American Agricultural Systems Design and use of field windbreaks in wind erosion control systems American Badger. Effects of site, landscape features, and fire regime on vegetation patterns in presettlement southern Wisconsin Relationships among grizzly bears, highways, and habitat in Banff-Bow Valley, Alberta, Canada. Can pastureland increase wild bee abundance in agriculturally intense areas? Response of wintering grassland raptors to human disturbance. Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment Demographic models of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Great Plains Toad (Bufo cognatus) Conservation Assessment of Greater Sage-Grouse and Sagebrush Habitats Population fragmentation and inter-ecosystem movements of grizzly bears in western Canada and the northern United States. Synthesis of noise effects on wildlife populations. The Effects of Linear Developments on Wildlife: A Review of Selected Scientific Literature Caribou in the Changing North Changing Patterns in the Number of Species in North American Floras. Windbreaks in North American Agricultural Systems Design and use of field windbreaks in wind erosion control systems Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review.