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Title: The ecology of rural roads: effects, research, and management

Author
item Coffin, Alisa
item OUREN, DOUG - U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (USGS)
item BETTEZ, NEIL - CARY INSTITUTE OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES
item BORDA DE AGUA, LUIS - UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
item DANIELS, AMY - U.S. FOREST SERVICE (FS)
item GRILO, CLARA - UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE LAVRAS
item JAEGER, JOCHEN - CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
item NAVARRO, LAETITIA - GERMAN CENTRE FOR INTEGRATIVE BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH (IDIV)
item PREISLER, HAIGANOUSH - U.S. FOREST SERVICE (FS)
item RAUSCHERT, EMILY - CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Issues in Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/4/2020
Publication Date: 6/23/2021
Citation: Coffin, A.W., Ouren, D., Bettez, N., Borda De Agua, L., Daniels, A., Grilo, C., Jaeger, J., Navarro, L., Preisler, H., Rauschert, E. 2021. The ecology of rural roads: effects, research, and management. Issues in Ecology. Issue 23/1-36.

Interpretive Summary: Roads are a clear sign of human settlement and landscape use. We know that people have been, or will be, wherever there is a road, bridge, track, or trail. In fact, transportation infrastructure is vital to local and regional economies. Roads bring the promise of increased access to natural resources and, in turn, to markets and trade for producers. A road, in and of itself, is but a disturbed piece of earth; and, when connected with other roads, becomes a link in a broader network. Road networks can open entire regions to new ideas and uses, and people often see roads as signs of progress and development. Yet roads indelibly alter landscapes through both space and time. Long after the rationale for building a road is gone, its effects can linger, sometimes for centuries; for all intents and purposes, roads permanently change a landscape. Although there has been a substantial focus on understanding the ecological impacts of highways and high-volume, paved roads, low-volume, unpaved, rural roads have generally been neglected in ecological research, despite their prevalence. The vast majority of the global road network comprises roads in rural areas, is predominantly low-volume and mostly unpaved, constituting a significant planetary human imprint. In the US, most public rural roads are “local” and “minor arterial roads”. The impact of roads on biodiversity can rival that of climate change in its rapidity and pervasiveness; indeed, the cumulative effects of roads have been called the “sleeping giant” of environmental biology. Accordingly, roads can be paradoxical: people need them for access and economic development, yet roads can alter and degrade the scenic and natural value of the landscapes they fragment, undermining the sources of economic development. In this paper, we hope to fill a knowledge gap by focusing on the ecological impacts of rural roads. What is the state of research into rural road ecology, and what research is needed to help land managers mitigate the impact of rural roads? What policies and practices can land managers use in planning and building rural roads with minimal ecological impacts? In short, how can we better assess the tradeoffs between social and economic benefits and ecological effects associated with rural road development and use?

Technical Abstract: Roads are a clear sign of human settlement and landscape use. We know that people have been, or will be, wherever there is a road, bridge, track, or trail. In fact, transportation infrastructure is vital to local and regional economies. Roads bring the promise of increased access to natural resources and, in turn, to markets and trade for producers. A road, in and of itself, is but a disturbed piece of earth; and, when connected with other roads, becomes a link in a broader network. Road networks can open entire regions to new ideas and uses, and people often see roads as signs of progress and development. Yet roads indelibly alter landscapes through both space and time. Long after the rationale for building a road is gone, its effects can linger, sometimes for centuries; for all intents and purposes, roads permanently change a landscape. Although there has been a substantial focus on understanding the ecological impacts of highways and high-volume, paved roads, low-volume, unpaved, rural roads have generally been neglected in ecological research, despite their prevalence. The vast majority of the global road network comprises roads in rural areas, is predominantly low-volume and mostly unpaved, constituting a significant planetary human imprint. In the US, most public rural roads are “local” and “minor arterial roads”. The impact of roads on biodiversity can rival that of climate change in its rapidity and pervasiveness; indeed, the cumulative effects of roads have been called the “sleeping giant” of environmental biology. Accordingly, roads can be paradoxical: people need them for access and economic development, yet roads can alter and degrade the scenic and natural value of the landscapes they fragment, undermining the sources of economic development. In this paper, we hope to fill a knowledge gap by focusing on the ecological impacts of rural roads. What is the state of research into rural road ecology, and what research is needed to help land managers mitigate the impact of rural roads? What policies and practices can land managers use in planning and building rural roads with minimal ecological impacts? In short, how can we better assess the tradeoffs between social and economic benefits and ecological effects associated with rural road development and use?