Transport Infrastructure and Biodiversity Loss: Patterns, Risks, and Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

Transportation systems—including roads, railways, waterways, and aviation—are rapidly expanding worldwide, reshaping ecosystems and posing major threats to biodiversity. Roads and other linear infrastructures drive wildlife mortality, fragment habitats, disrupt gene flow, and alter ecological processes, particularly affecting understudied taxa, such as amphibians, reptiles, insects, and native vegetation communities. Urban transport adds pressures, including artificial light, noise, and altered daily rhythms. Geometric road features and transport network design can exacerbate these impacts, while invasive species may exploit corridors created by infrastructure, influencing both fauna and roadside flora.

Addressing these challenges requires harmonized, standardized, and interoperable biodiversity data, improved monitoring, mechanistic understanding of species responses, and evaluation of mitigation measures across transport modes. Emerging technologies, including autonomous, connected, electric, shared, and drone-based mobility, as well as smart infrastructure and citizen science initiatives, provide opportunities to collect, integrate, and analyze biodiversity and transport data at multiple scales. Management perspectives that highlight ecological risks arising from the neglect, mismanagement, or non-use of scientific data in transport planning emphasize institutional responsibility and accountability.

This Special Issue invites contributions exploring ecological consequences of transportation networks, predictive modeling, mitigation effectiveness, and evidence-based, biodiversity-conscious transport planning, including impacts on both fauna and flora.

Dr. Linas Balčiauskas
Dr. Andrius Kučas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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