Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
ryanblakeley.net
Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
1–10 of 117 posts
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#2Road ecology is a very interesting and important field, particularly the modeling of animal interactions with road crossings - all very interesting and important.
The rhetorical title is absurd, however, and I'd argue even Ben Goldfarb would agree with that.
Habitat loss is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss, as a result of many, many drivers. You've heard of all of them. The presence and proliferation of roads is, of course, one of those drivers.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#3Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#4Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
I must admit that this phrase hits different in the context of the six extinction.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#5They've certainly decimated the Tortoise population in the hi-desert near JTNP where I own property. Automobiles are way too fast for those to stand a chance.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#6[flagged]
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#7On top of roadkill itself, there's a reasonable (IMO) argument to be made that car-centric development is a big source of our looming water problems: the US has drained or redeveloped astounding amounts of natural swamp, marsh, and wetlands to make space for car-dependent living patterns. That means less water percolating into already over-stressed aquifers.
It's a trite thing to say, but our grandchildren are going to remember us for this, much like we remember our grandparents for leaded gasoline and DDT.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#8On top of roadkill itself, there's a reasonable (IMO) argument to be made that car-centric development is a big source of our looming water problems: the US has drained or redeveloped astounding amounts of natural swamp, marsh, and wetlands to make space for car-dependent living patterns. That means less water percolating into already over-stressed aquifers. It's a trite thing to say, but our grandchildren are going…
This is most definitely the case. It has also caused enormous problems for places where flooding was already a threat, by removing the natural buffering capabilities that places like wetlands have.
In fact, a whole field (stormwater engineering) exists to mitigate this.
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#9On top of roadkill itself, there's a reasonable (IMO) argument to be made that car-centric development is a big source of our looming water problems: the US has drained or redeveloped astounding amounts of natural swamp, marsh, and wetlands to make space for car-dependent living patterns. That means less water percolating into already over-stressed aquifers. It's a trite thing to say, but our grandchildren are going…
> much like we remember our grandparents for leaded gasoline and DDT
What? I associate DDT and leaded gasoline with my grandparents not-at-all. Is anyone here really holding their grandparents feet to the fire over these?
Re: Are roads the biggest driver of ecological destruction?
#10They've certainly decimated the Tortoise population in the hi-desert near JTNP where I own property. Automobiles are way too fast for those to stand a chance.
> where I own property
You hit the nail on the head workout realizing it. The real problem is mass property ownership in remote areas. The huge uptick in car travelers and according roads are a result of that.