Genetics and Ecology of Amphibians Research Group (GEARG), Biology Department, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ont., P3E 2C6, Canada.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2012 Jul;27(7):374-80. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.01.015. Epub 2012 Feb 20.
Roads impede animal movement, which decreases habitat accessibility and reduces gene flow. Ecopassages have been built to mitigate this but there is little research with which to evaluate their effectiveness, owing to the difficulty in accessing results of existing research; the lack of scientific rigor in these studies; and the low priority of connectivity planning in road projects. In this article, we suggest that the imperative for improving studies of ecopassage effectiveness is that road ecology research should be included from the earliest stages of road projects onwards. This would enable before-after-control-impact (BACI) design research, producing useful information for the particular road project as well as rigorous results for use in future road mitigation. Well-designed studies on ecopassage effectiveness could help improve landscape connectivity even with the increasing number and use by traffic of roads.
道路阻碍了动物的移动，降低了栖息地的可达性，并减少了基因流动。为了缓解这一问题，已经修建了生态通道，但由于难以获取现有研究成果、这些研究缺乏科学严谨性以及道路项目中连通性规划的优先级较低，因此几乎没有研究可以评估它们的有效性。在本文中，我们认为，必须从道路项目的早期阶段就开始纳入生态通道有效性的研究，以改善研究。这将使道路生态学研究能够采用前后对照控制影响（BACI）设计研究，为特定的道路项目提供有用的信息，并为未来的道路缓解措施提供严谨的结果。对生态通道有效性的精心设计的研究可以帮助改善景观连通性，即使道路的数量和交通使用不断增加。
