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...
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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 |
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