| Abstract: |
The projects devoted to the construction of transport infrastructure represent social and economic benefits that provide communication between different regions, which makes the transportation of people and goods easier while providing social and economic development at different local, regional and national scales and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, the construction and maintenance of roads have negative effects on the environment, especially at the landscape scale. The identification and evaluation of effects such as the landscape heterogeneity are important to design strategies oriented to mitigate and compensate such impacts.
The growth of road infrastructure is becoming more and more important due to the environmental impacts produced at different territorial scales: urban, periurban, and rural. The knowledge of the landscape diversity and the understanding of the changing spatial and temporal patterns associated with roads are necessary, especially in areas with high spatial dynamic. For example, in urban and periurban areas, the urbanization processes will continue and the requirements of connection between urban centers will be greater, requiring a large number of roads and maintenance of the existing infrastructure. However, without efficient planning tools that protect the spatial dynamics of the ecosystems, a sustainable environment could not be available over time.
One challenge is the use of different geotechniques and statistical methods, in addition to simulation models, to analyze and predict the effects of road infrastructure on the temporal and spatial changes of the landscape. Thus, the main objective of this PhD study is to achieve an adequate methodology through the use of existing models and techniques for the analysis of heterogeneous landscapes, and mainly the influence of the transport infrastructure on the fragmentation and diversity of natural ecosystems. |