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Roadless areas and biodiversity: a case study in Alabama, USA

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Abstract

Roadless areas are important for biodiversity maintenance and nature conservation but remain politically controversial due to conflicting interests of conservation and development. In this study, we applied a recently developed index of roadless volume (RV) across 67 counties of Alabama, USA as a case study to examine the relationships between roadless areas and local species richness. Our results indicated that with the increase of RV across counties, both the number of total fish and exotic fish species increased, but the relationship was not significant for endemic fish species. The number of both herpetofaunal and plant species also increased with the increasing RV. For all included species, there was a significant positive correlation between species richness and RV values. The number of endangered species decreased with the increase of RV per-capita. Wildfire occurrences increased with the increase of RV. Preserving roadless areas is an important component of biodiversity conservation.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of Alabama A & M University and Department of Energy DE-FC26-06NT43029.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Forestry, Ecology & Wildlife, Alabama A & M University, P.O. Box 1927, Normal, AL, 35762, USA

    Xiongwen Chen & Kathleen A. Roberts

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  1. Xiongwen Chen
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  2. Kathleen A. Roberts
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Correspondence to Xiongwen Chen.

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Chen, X., Roberts, K.A. Roadless areas and biodiversity: a case study in Alabama, USA. Biodivers Conserv 17, 2013–2022 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9351-2

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