A Research on the Determination of the Ecological Effects of Road Networks: The Example of Hendek, Turkey

The number of road networks increase day by day. This brings about many problems. The aim of the study is to determine the effects of road networks on landscape structure with the landscape ecology-based approaches. In the study, to carry out landscape ecology based evaluations, 7 patch classes belonging to forest matrix were determined by firstly examining forest cover type map. The effects of roads were evaluated in the context of fragmentation situation. Fragmentation was analyzed with Patch Analysis, which was performed under ArcGIS program. At the end of the analysis, patch size and number, patch form, patch edge and core areas values concerning the patch classes were determined. These values were relatively scored out of 5 points, provided that the areas with less fragmentation were considered to have conservation priority. The total score of every patch class was found and the patch classes were divided into classes between each other according to their conservation priority degrees. The results of the study showed that the study area where road networks existed and intensified had much more fragmentation. The fragmentation in the patch classes increased in the direction of "mixed leafy, leafy- mixed forest, open area in forestry, coniferous-grassland, mixed coniferous". In the evaluation in which less-fragmentation areas considered to have conservation priority, it was found that 16.14% of the study area had a very high, 24.63% of it had a high, 12.78% of it had a moderate, 0.05% of it a low and 0.1 % of it very low conservation degree.