Urban greenspace has an important role to play in reducing habitat fragmentation and retaining some connectivity between patches as development occurs. In existing, relatively static urban landscapes, the first, second and fourth priorities are more likely to apply. Features such as footpaths, rivers and canals already offer green corridors in many urban areas. Greenspace that is not suitable breeding habitat for many species may still serve to improve permeability, and therefore movement, between breeding sites.
Domestic gardens have an important role to play, and it may be important to communicate to residents the importance of their garden to local wildlife. New urban developments can help to counteract fragmentation simply by protecting existing patches of high-quality habitat within them.
Making wildlife patches larger is an important measure, as well including new kinds of habitat such as community woodland on development land that was previously arable for wildlife, and arranging all greenspace appropriately to encourage species movement. Forest Research is leading the development and application of landscape ecology tools for combating fragmentation in the UK. Habitat network maps created by the Rural and Urban Landscape Ecology groups have already been implemented in planning and grant applications in south-west England, Wales and Scotland.
Habitat network maps can be used to evaluate how connected the existing wildlife patches are, and to target where to place new patches during site development. In tandem, Forest Research is performing research to inform and validate its recapture and genetic data can all inform-tools and models.
Radiotracking, mark recapture models and direct observation can all provide important information us about how species move through the landscape. Local authorities wishing to include habitat fragmentation-reduction measures into their spatial planning can benefit from an integrated habitat network modelling and advisory service, which includes long-term data set maintenance.
We are already providing this to local authorities in Scotland, for example in the Lothians and Clyde Valley. Simpler analyses can also be employed to evaluate plans, projects or incentives.
For example, on the Isle of Wight, landscape metrics such as average edge ratio were employed to assess the effectiveness of a-woodland size and area spatial targeting scheme for woodland grants.
Such analyses could easily be used to compare different greenspace scenarios in urban development plans. A significant proportion of the UK population are found around towns in north-east Wales, in a line along the A55 from Wrexham to Rhyl. The modelling carried out for this project at Forest Research produced maps of functional habitat networks, outlining which ponds were likely to be close enough to one another for great crested newts to move between them.
The networks took account of both distance and the composition of the land between ponds. The negative effects of habitat loss and fragmentation are magnified by global warming. Changing weather patterns may degrade the quality of remaining habitat. Furthermore, as average temperatures rise, the habitable range for many species is predicted to shift. However, some species may have difficulty moving to new territory in a highly fragmented landscape.
Conservation resources are limited. Thus, the strategic identification of where, when and how to enhance, restore or conserve habitat is important. Both experiments and environmental monitoring aid conservation efforts.
Some experiments can identify conservation practices that are likely to succeed in a relatively short period of time. Meanwhile, monitoring can determine where habitat exists and assess its quality. If habitat is enhanced or restored, long-term monitoring also provides information about the effectiveness of the conservation strategies used. Climate modeling can also help project where shifting environmental conditions are mostly likely to harm or support target species.
Unfortunately, gathering enough information to identify meaningful trends and effective management practices can be a lengthy process. Conservation biology, however, has a rich history of enlisting citizen scientists to collect data. Today, technology offers the public unprecedented opportunities to participate in large-scale monitoring projects to support conservation efforts. Beyond monitoring, researchers are also grappling with the science of how to best enhance, restore and maintain the many, diverse pollinator habitats found worldwide.
Careful study of floriculture and seed propagation techniques, and concerted efforts to harvest and distribute seed from restoration efforts, are the rewards of decades of dedicated scientific research.
Ellis, E. Anthropogenic transformation of the biomes, to Fahrig, L. Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Honnay, O. Possible effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change on the range of forest plant species. Particular attention has to be paid to rivers, streams, riparian forests, wooded corridors, networks of hedges, and dikes, which can often be the last refuge for many species in intensively used landscapes.
It is important that transport infrastructure engineering work is co-ordinated at all scales so that all engineering works are sympathetic to habitat and species needs. Even at the detailed site level, minor changes in engineering specifications or design can have significant benefits for wildlife see Chapter 7.
Avoiding or minimising fragmentation effects is a major consideration during the planning of new infrastructure, the upgrading of existing road and railway routes and the management of problems associated with existing roads and railways.
The avoidance of ecological impacts by not developing the proposed infrastructure may be the only solution to avoid fragmentation of vulnerable habitats. Adapting the alignment of the infrastructure to avoid bisecting vulnerable habitats, reducing the landtake of the road corridor or reducing disturbance to adjacent habitats minimise the impact but do not entirely avoid fragmentation. Avoidance of habitat fragmentation should become the first principle applied in the:. The barrier effect of transport infrastructure see Chapter 3 can be mitigated by employing different kinds of measures, such as over- and underpasses aimed at maintaining landscape permeability through the use of animal crossing structures or adapting engineering works to act as fauna passages.
A wide variety of measures are described in Chapter 7. The key questions related to mitigation measures are: 1 what is the problem and where is it located; 2 what kind of measures are appropiate to solve it; 3 what design is fit for the purpose?
The habitat creation scheme aims to provide additional habitat of appropiate quality and type to compensate for that lost or damaged by infrastructure development. For all these approaches avoidance, mitigation, compensation adopted measures should be checked to ensure they conform to design and quality standards and that they work see Chapter 9. Figure 4. This would have fragmented the largest wetland area in the country area in the foreground.
To avoid this, an alternative route was chosen further away from the lake.
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