Biblio Notes

June 19, 2009 - By Adam Switalski and Liane Davis   IntroductionClimate has changed throughout the history of our planet and species have adapted and persisted over time (Noss 2001). Unlike previous periods of climatic change, though, many species’ ability to adjust has been severely constrained by anthropocentric alterations of many ecosystems, such as habitat loss and fragmentation. It is these additional environmental stressors that make climate change such a challenge for biodiversity conservation. But while humans have inflated the conservation challenges associated with climate change, we can also help to alleviate them.

March 9, 2009 - Beth Gibson   Sand dunes and sandy beaches contend with surf spray, storms, wind, and other extreme conditions. These coastal areas also face unique challenges related to population growth, climate change, and urban development and sprawl – more than half the U.S. population lives in coastal areas. And while these habitats and the flora and fauna that inhabit them are robust, they are also vulnerable to the impacts of human recreation and development.  In fact, the coastal zone is home to more than one third of U.S. federally listed species.

December 4, 2008 - Josh Hurd   Watershed restoration often requires economic, in addition to scientific justification in order to gain political support (Norgaard et al., 2007; Rubin, 2000). In these cases restoration includes socio-economic arguments in which the economic benefits accruing from restoration are enumerated (Davis, 2004; Cowling, 2007; Holl and Howarth, 2000). However, many of the benefits of properly functioning watersheds are neither fully known nor taken into account in traditional market systems (Holl and Howarth, 2000; Costanza et al., 1997).

September 18, 2008 - By Shannon Donahue   As the human population grows, our wildlands face threats from increased access for recreation and resource extraction, subdivision for residential and commercial development, and movements to pave and improve many of our secondary and tertiary roads.  Road improvements include paving, widening, and/or other methods.  While paving may afford conveniences that satisfy commercial and residential demands, such improvements increase the detrimental ecological impacts of roads including direct effects such as fragmentation and loss of secure wildlife habitat (Forman & Alexander, 1998), increa

June 19, 2008 - Greg Peters   The U.S. northern Rocky Mountains cover a huge area of relatively pristine and undeveloped land, creating unique areas of core habitat for many important carnivore and ungulate species. However, many parts of this region also have a long history of resource extraction and road building. On Forest Service lands alone, there are more than 50,000 miles of roads. Today many areas in this region are being rapidly developed and critical wildlife habitats are increasingly being fragmented.

March 13, 2008 - Shannon Donahue    Editor’s Note: This review updates research since our last Bibliography Notes on this topic, in May/June 1998 (Vol. 3 #3, or visit: http://www.wildlandscpr.org/biblio-notes/roads-kill-grizzly-bears-and-ef...). Since that time, more research has addressed the effects of highways and railroads, rather than just low volume roads.

December 17, 2007 - Jason Kiely and Chris Kassar    Editor’s Note: Bibliography Notes typically covers the ecological effects of roads or ORVs by reviewing scientific literature. However, assumptions about social behavior also influence the debate around the management of off-road vehicle use on public lands. This edition of Bibliography Notes explores one important social science issue that has been studied by researchers. Introduction

September 13, 2007 - Adam Switalski with research assistance from Monica Wright   Scenes of Yellowstone Park Rangers wearing gas masks brought national attention to snowmobile pollution. In Yellowstone (YNP) where the cleanest air in the nation should be found, levels of pollution often exceeded those of downtown Los Angeles (Rodes et al. 1998). Studies were quickly initiated and two-stroke snowmobiles were banned from the Park. Elsewhere, millions of snowmobilers still rev up these engines each winter and head into the snow-covered wildlands.

July 19, 2007 - Tiffany Saleh   The U.S. is home to 3,981,512 miles of public roads (US Dept. of Transportation 2004). Unfortunately, the number of these roads that are currently lighted or will be lighted is not recorded by either the Department of Transportation nor the Federal Highway Administration, and therefore is unknown. We can infer that the majority of these roads are at least illuminated over specific portions. Ritters and Wickham (2003) report that 20% of the coterminous United States lies within 127 m of a road. In addition, U.S.

March 18, 2007 - Sara Simmers   Picture a restored road halfway overgrown with vegetation. Most of us involved in restoration would generally see this vegetative cover as a good thing. It is a sign that something is able to grow on the once disturbed and compacted soil. Erosion is held in check, minus some bare spots here and there. Wildlife are likely beginning to use some of the plants for cover and food. As for the plant community itself, we expect that successional processes will eventually result in a diverse array of desired plant species.