Roads are fragmenting South Korea’s mammal habitat even where forest patches remain
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
A Scientific Reports study analyzed 6,176 habitat patches across the Republic of Korea using nationwide mammal occurrence data. More than two-thirds of patches were smaller than one square kilometre. Mammal species richness increased with patch size and structural connectivity, and highly connected patches supported nearly twice the richness of poorly connected patches above the study's connectivity threshold. Richness was also lower in patches within roughly one kilometre of roads than in patches farther away.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Habitat retained on a map can be functionally downgraded by the infrastructure around it. The planning implication is to treat road proximity, patch size and connection to neighboring habitat as parts of habitat condition—not separate layers added after the conservation map is drawn.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is an observational richness analysis, not a direct measurement of population viability, movement or gene flow. Road proximity covaries with land use and human activity, occurrence data carry detectability bias, and the connectivity threshold should not be treated as a universal design standard outside the study landscape.
SOURCE
Scientific Reports
View original evidence ↗
A nationwide analysis of 6,176 habitat patches found mammal richness rose with patch size and connectivity and was lower close to roads, showing that retained habitat can still lose ecological value when the network around it is severed.
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