Quantifying roadless areas and fragmentation in the context of wildlife-vehicle collision risk in Great Britain.

ABSTRACT: Roads cause indirect and direct effects for wildlife, including pollution, behavioural changes, wildlife mortality and habitat fragmentation. The ecological impacts of roads extend beyond their immediate vicinity, into 'road effect zones'. Beyond road effect zones, 'roadless areas' can offer refuges from the ecological effects of roads. In this study, we quantify the number and distribution of roadless patches in Great Britain, their ecological status and their overlap with protected areas. Road effect zones applied 100, 500 and 1,000 m on either side of the road network revealed a highly fragmented landscape with 93,561, 29,164 and 6,138 roadless patches, covering 76.6%, 36.0% and 20.6% of terrestrial land, respectively. Roadless areas were smallest, on average, in England and largest in

SUBMITTER: Raymond S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12917188 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature