Road Ecology: not just wildlife-vehicle collisions

Organização: CEF/CEABN

Data: 16 de dezembro de 2015 :: 12h30 às 13h30

Local: Sala PF 1.6 (Auditório Florestal)

Orador: Fernando Ascensão, investigador do CIBIO - Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources

Abstract

Roads have several negative impacts on biodiversity and perhaps the most visible and problematic impact of roads is wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC), often representing a significant contributor to non-natural mortality in several species. Other main impacts are often less recognized, including habitat destruction, reduction in habitat quality and barrier effects, which may significantly constrain animal movement and gene flow and deplete wildlife populations. This branch of research is generally referred as Road Ecology, the field where I have been developing my studies in past years. I will talk about impacts (both positive and negative) of transportation networks in biodiversity, with a particular focus on animals, and covering distinct aspects of the animal-road interaction, not just wildlife-vehicle collisions.