This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a unique overview of the
impacts of railways on biodiversity integrating the existing knowledge on the ecological
effects of railways on wildlife identifying major knowledge gaps and research directions and
presenting the emerging field of railway ecology. The book is divided into two major parts:
Part one offers a general review of the major conceptual and theoretical principles of railway
ecology. The chapters consider the impacts of railways on wildlife populations and concentrate
on four major topics: mortality barrier effects species invasions and disturbances (ranging
from noise to chemical pollution). Part two focuses on a number of case studies from Europe
Asia and North America written by an international group of experts.
