ارزيابي اثرات اكولوژيكي كنار گذر غرب اصفهان بر پناهگاه حيات وحش قميشلو

چكيده انگليسي :

Ecological Impact Assessment of Isfahan s West Freeway on Ghamishloo Wildlife Refuge Toktam Makky t makky@in iut ac ir Date of Submission 2012 2 19 Department of Natural Resources Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan 84156 83111 Iran Degree M Sc Language PersianSupervisors Sima Fakheran fakheran@cc iut ac ir Hossein Moradi hossein moradi@cc iut ac irAbstract The fragmentation of habitats and the creation of barriers caused by transportationinfrastructures reduce landscape connectivity which is suspected to be one of the most importantfactors causing population declines Road networks affect wildlife habitats in two different ways First road construction leads to a direct habitat loss Second maintenance and use of road causevarious effects altering habitat quality such as increasing access to hunters poachers and tourists Development of roads through protected areas and ecological sensitive regions can havecatastrophic effects on wildlife and leaves destructive impacts such as habitat fragmentation andisolation Notwithstanding these negative ecological impacts road networks continue to increaseworldwide due to increasing socio economic needs for high mobility In Iran road construction insensitive habitats protected areas and national parks is expanding during the past decades Thisstudy focuses on the ecological impacts of Isfahan s west freeway which passes throughGhamishloo wildlife refuge I U C N category IV in Isfahan Province The two key affectedspecies of the study area goitered gazelle Gazella subgutturosa subgutterosa and wild sheep Ovis orientalis isfahanica were considered for impact analysis We used HEP HabitatEvaluation Procedure as a habitat based impact assessment methodology which considers habitatquality and quantity Habitat quality was measured as habitat suitability index for each species By exhaustive literature review and field observations six effective variables on habitat suitabilityincluding vegetation cover slope elevation distance to water and distance to road were identifiedand the suitability maps was generated for each variable by assigning a suitability index scale 0 1 to conditions for each variable By including the equation for calculating the habitat suitabilityindex HSI the final habitat suitability map for the study species were generated Habitat unit HU was derived from multiplying the HSI for each of evaluation species by the habitat area HU HSI size of habitat in two time before and after road construction The results showed thatdue to the presence of the freeway 7710 HUs for Gazella subgutturosa subgutterosa and 6288 HUs for Ovis orientalis isfahanica have lost In addition for quantifying landscape patternchange due to road construction various landscape metrics such as PLAND Percentage ofLandscape NP Number of Patches ED Edge Density MPS Mean Patch Size LPI LargestPatch Index MNN Mean Nearest Neighbor and CONTAG Contagion were calculated for thespecies distribution polygons for two time before and after road construction Analysis oflandscape metrics revealed increasing distance between available habitat patches the additivebarrier of roads limit dispersal possibilities of species and decrease landscape connectivity in thestudy area in particular due to absence of wildlife crossing structures such as underpasses andover passes Our result provided quantitative data on habitat loss and landscape fragmentation inGhamishloo wildlife refuge and indicated negative impacts of the freeway on wild sheep andGoitered gazelle populations by restricting movement between habitat patches in Ghamishloowildlife refuge and presents a concern for the conservation of these vulnerable species According to the results of this study mitigation and compensation activities should beconsidered in Ghamishloo wildlife refuge Keywords Ecological Impact assessment Transportation Infrastructure Habitat fragmentation Gazellasubgutturosa Ovis orientalis isfahanica HEP Habitat Suitability Index LandscapeMetrics

مكي، تكتم

ارزيابي اثرات اكولوژيكي كنار گذر غرب اصفهان بر پناهگاه حيات وحش قميشلو

جاده , تكه تكه شدن زيستگاه , آهوي ايراني , قوچ و ميش اصفهاني , HEP , شاخص مطلوبيت زيستگاه , متريك هاي سيماي سرزمين