Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.

There has been a growing recognition that the narrow linear strips of uncultivated vegetation that lie between roads and agricultural crops, referred to as roadside right-of-ways or verges, can serve as areas for the conservation of wildlife. The features of right-of-ways that should influence the c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Robert A McCleery, Allison R Holdorf, Laura L Hubbard, Brian D Peer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4368768?pdf=render
id doaj-90429753ecdb4eab843f1b015226851f
record_format Article
spelling doaj-90429753ecdb4eab843f1b015226851f2020-11-25T01:33:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01103e012037510.1371/journal.pone.0120375Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.Robert A McCleeryAllison R HoldorfLaura L HubbardBrian D PeerThere has been a growing recognition that the narrow linear strips of uncultivated vegetation that lie between roads and agricultural crops, referred to as roadside right-of-ways or verges, can serve as areas for the conservation of wildlife. The features of right-of-ways that should influence the composition of wildlife communities vary considerably. Our goal was to determine what features of right-of-ways increased the conservation potential of right-of-ways for wildlife in a grassland system dominated by agricultural production. We sampled 100 right-of-ways for birds and 92 right-of-ways for small mammals in McDonough and Warren Counties in west-central Illinois. We found that the sizes of right-of-ways and the amount of traffic on the adjacent roads synergistically worked to influence wildlife communities. On roads with low traffic, avian species richness increased rapidly with increased right-of-way width, while on roads with high traffic, avian richness increased only slightly with increasing right-of-way widths. We found that wider roadside right-of-ways (preferably across the road from equally wide right-of-ways) with thicker and taller vegetation had the greatest conservation value for birds and small mammals. The features that enhanced the conservation value of right-of-ways in our study area were uncommon. Efforts to create or enhance these features for the benefit of wildlife would likely face numerous obstacles. Nonetheless, from a grassland conservation perspective, working with stakeholders to implement specific strategies to enhance these often neglected areas may be an effective complement to purchasing and restoring conservation lands away from roads.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4368768?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Robert A McCleery
Allison R Holdorf
Laura L Hubbard
Brian D Peer
spellingShingle Robert A McCleery
Allison R Holdorf
Laura L Hubbard
Brian D Peer
Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Robert A McCleery
Allison R Holdorf
Laura L Hubbard
Brian D Peer
author_sort Robert A McCleery
title Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
title_short Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
title_full Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
title_fullStr Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
title_full_unstemmed Maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
title_sort maximizing the wildlife conservation value of road right-of-ways in an agriculturally dominated landscape.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2015-01-01
description There has been a growing recognition that the narrow linear strips of uncultivated vegetation that lie between roads and agricultural crops, referred to as roadside right-of-ways or verges, can serve as areas for the conservation of wildlife. The features of right-of-ways that should influence the composition of wildlife communities vary considerably. Our goal was to determine what features of right-of-ways increased the conservation potential of right-of-ways for wildlife in a grassland system dominated by agricultural production. We sampled 100 right-of-ways for birds and 92 right-of-ways for small mammals in McDonough and Warren Counties in west-central Illinois. We found that the sizes of right-of-ways and the amount of traffic on the adjacent roads synergistically worked to influence wildlife communities. On roads with low traffic, avian species richness increased rapidly with increased right-of-way width, while on roads with high traffic, avian richness increased only slightly with increasing right-of-way widths. We found that wider roadside right-of-ways (preferably across the road from equally wide right-of-ways) with thicker and taller vegetation had the greatest conservation value for birds and small mammals. The features that enhanced the conservation value of right-of-ways in our study area were uncommon. Efforts to create or enhance these features for the benefit of wildlife would likely face numerous obstacles. Nonetheless, from a grassland conservation perspective, working with stakeholders to implement specific strategies to enhance these often neglected areas may be an effective complement to purchasing and restoring conservation lands away from roads.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4368768?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT robertamccleery maximizingthewildlifeconservationvalueofroadrightofwaysinanagriculturallydominatedlandscape
AT allisonrholdorf maximizingthewildlifeconservationvalueofroadrightofwaysinanagriculturallydominatedlandscape
AT lauralhubbard maximizingthewildlifeconservationvalueofroadrightofwaysinanagriculturallydominatedlandscape
AT briandpeer maximizingthewildlifeconservationvalueofroadrightofwaysinanagriculturallydominatedlandscape
_version_ 1725078164673134592