Assessing the Impact of Road Networks on Decreasing the Quality of Wildlife’Habitats Using the Vicinity Impact Index (Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari Province)

Authors

Shekoufeh Nematollahi, Sima Fakheran, Felix Kienast, Saeid Pourmanafi, Ali Jafari

Journal

Desert Management

Publisher

Iranian Scientific Association of Desert Management and Control (ISADMC)

Description

Road networks as an integral part of the transportation infrastructure have deleterious ecological effects on habitats and wildlife populations. Vicinity impacts of road networks on habitats together with habitat fragmentation have caused decrease in habitat quality, biodiversity decline. Road networks development is one of the most important risk elements for valuable habitats and species of the Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari province. So, it is necessary to evaluate habitat’s condition and ecosystem services into conservation systematic planning and minimizing its negative impacts. For this purpose, first, the habitat quality of Ovis orientalis Gmelin, (subspecies isphahanica Nasonov), Panthera pardus Pocock, and Ursus arctos Linnaeus,were modeled using Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST). Then, the vicinity impacts of road networks was assessed using the Vicinity Impact index. To …