The Ecology of Transportation: Managing Mobility for the Environment

Human transport by land, sea and air has increased exponentially through time in intensity, paralleling rises in population, prosperity and rates of technological change. Transport has considerable ecological effects, many of them detrimental to environmental sustainability. This volume brings together international experts from a variety of disciplines to review the ecological effects and their causes in terms of road, rail, ship and aircraft transport. The contributors have different attitudes and agendas. Some are ecologists, some planners, others social scientists. Focus ranges from identification of threats and amelioration of damaging effects through to future design of transport systems to minimize environmental degradation. Some chapters consider restricted areas of the globe; others the globe itself. Views encompass deep pessimism and cautious optimism.

Uniquely, the volume considers transport effects in all environments. This is the first book that attempts to discuss the relationship between human transport and all ecosystems. It appeals not only to the specialist environmentalist by picking out novel topics, but also to anyone involved in transport issues as it tackles the issues from an historical perspective, encompassing the past, present and future of the effects of human transport.

Contenu
Ecological effects of aviation.- The local costs to ecological services associated with high seas global transport.- Shipwrecked Shipping impacts on the biota of the Mediterranean Sea.- Snakes and ladders: Navigable waterways as invasion corridors.- The transport and the spread of living aquatic species.- Small craft and the spread of exotic species.- The environmental impacts of private car transport on the sustainability of Irish settlements.- Mortality in wildlife due to transportation.- Habitat fragmentation due to transport infrastructure : Practical considerations.- Restoring habitat connectivity across transport corridors: identifying high-priority locations for de-fragmentation with the use of an expert-based model.- Habitat and corridor function of rights-of-way.- Impact of road traffic on breeding bird populations.- Towards the sustainable development of modern road ecosystems.- Environmental impacts of transport, related to tourism and leisure activities.- Contaminants and pollutants.