Transportation and Biodiversity

This week I am talking not about how COVID 19 is impacting transportation, but how transportation is impacting something else - biodiversity and maybe ecology as a whole. In the online hypothetical nation-governing simulation game NationStates (“NationStates | The World,” n.d.), extension of transportation network to all corners of a country inevitably leads to large scale deforestation and/or general environment decline. Is it true in the real world, though?

It probably is not some novel knowledge, but yes, roads and railways can and do harm biodiversity. In fact, biodiversity threat is one of the most noted (negative) externalities resulting from transportation exercises apart from pollution (Marcantonio et al., 2013). Roads and railways do not simply just cut through forest and other wild (or maybe not-so-wild) areas (although this action itself poses direct threat for animals trying to cross). Transportation infrastructures are in need of constant maintenance and governance, which in turn leads to substantial structures and residences along roads and railways. Although various research projects have been striving to ease this externality by designing various kinds of animal-friendly road scheme, technical solutions usually come with high per-kilometer cost which means that many local communities cannot afford such a cost to begin with. That is leading to more highways simply cutting through old-growth forests, actually making road networks one of the more commonly used indicators for human interference on ecological systems and biodiversity (Hosaka et al., 2014). Proposed solutions include limiting use of paved full-scale roads and embrace development of less harmful “minor” roads in the countryside (Spooner, 2015), yet this solution falls short in the face of extreme weather events such as sustained heavy rainfall, which can easily render unpaved roads practically non-existent.

More disturbing news is still coming out, as novel studies point out long-term noise externalities caused by road transportation. Constant road noises impact the biological rhythm of many species, with mammals and birds taking the direct hit. Once again, many communities are finding their hands tied, for a proper solution means un-affordable invest that may not be politically or economically beneficial.

References

Hosaka, T., Yamada, T., & Okuda, T. (2014). Road-networks, a practical indicator of human impacts on biodiversity in Tropical forests. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 18, 012092. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/18/1/012092

Marcantonio, M., Rocchini, D., Geri, F., Bacaro, G., & Amici, V. (2013). Biodiversity, roads, & landscape fragmentation: Two Mediterranean cases. Applied Geography, 42, 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2013.05.001

NationStates | The World. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2021, from https://www.nationstates.net/page=world

Spooner, P. G. (2015). Minor rural road networks: values, challenges, and opportunities for biodiversity conservation. Nature Conservation, 11, 129–142. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.11.4434