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Linear infrastructure drives habitat conversion and forest fragmentation associated with Marcellus shale gas development in a forested landscape.

Abstract：

:Large, continuous forest provides critical habitat for some species of forest dependent wildlife. The rapid expansion of shale gas development within the northern Appalachians results in direct loss of such habitat at well sites, pipelines, and access roads; however the resulting habitat fragmentation surrounding such areas may be of greater importance. Previous research has suggested that infrastructure supporting gas development is the driver for habitat loss, but knowledge of what specific infrastructure affects habitat is limited by a lack of spatial tracking of infrastructure development in different land uses. We used high-resolution aerial imagery, land cover data, and well point data to quantify shale gas development across four time periods (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), including: the number of wells permitted, drilled, and producing gas (a measure of pipeline development); land use change; and forest fragmentation on both private and public land. As of April 2016, the majority of shale gas development was located on private land (74% of constructed well pads); however, the number of wells drilled per pad was lower on private compared to public land (3.5 and 5.4, respectively). Loss of core forest was more than double on private than public land (4.3 and 2.0%, respectively), which likely results from better management practices implemented on public land. Pipelines were by far the largest contributor to the fragmentation of core forest due to shale gas development. Forecasting future land use change resulting from gas development suggests that the greatest loss of core forest will occur with pads constructed farthest from pre-existing pipelines (new pipelines must be built to connect pads) and in areas with greater amounts of core forest. To reduce future fragmentation, our results suggest new pads should be placed near pre-existing pipelines and methods to consolidate pipelines with other infrastructure should be used. Without these mitigation practices, we will continue to lose core forest as a result of new pipelines and infrastructure particularly on private land.

journal_name

J Environ Manage

journal_title

Journal of environmental management

authors

Langlois LA,Drohan PJ,Brittingham MC

doi

10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.03.045

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2017-07-15 00:00:00

pages

167-176

eissn

0301-4797

issn

1095-8630

pii

S0301-4797(17)30260-8

journal_volume

197

pub_type

杂志文章

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Linear infrastructure drives habitat conversion and forest fragmentation associated with Marcellus shale gas development in a forested landscape.