European Co-operation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research Version 30-05-00 COST 341 Habitat Fragmentation due to Transport Infrastructure the Netherlands State of the Art Report European Commission Directorate General Transport Legal notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission. A great deal of additional information on COST Transport is available on the World Wide Web. It can be accessed through the CORDIS server at the following address: List of authors Hans Bekker Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Ruud Cuperus Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Louis Fliervoet Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, IKC Natuur P.O. Box 30 6700 AA Wageningen Ybele Hoogeveen Alterra P.O. Box 125 (klopt dit?) 6700 AC Wageningen (klopt dit?) Wie nog meer van Alterra? Rinus Jaarsma Wageningen University, Laboratorium Ruimtelijke Planvorming Generaal Foulkesweg 13 6703 BJ Wageningen Rob Jongman Wageningen University, Laboratorium Ruimtelijke Planvorming Generaal Foulkesweg 13 6703 BJ Wageningen Dana Kamphorst Wageningen University, Laboratorium Ruimtelijke Planvorming Generaal Foulkesweg 13 6703 BJ Wageningen Reinoud Kleijberg Arcadis Annette Piepers Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Martin Soesbergen Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Geesje Veenbaas Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Theo Verstrael Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division P.O. Box 5044 2600 GA Delft Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................6 Chapter 2 Ecological concepts ..............................................................................................................................8 2.1 Landscape ecology........................................................................................................................................8 2.2 Habitat fragmentation ...............................................................................................................................11 2.3 Ecological networks ...................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 3 The effects of infrastructure on nature ............................................................................................15 3.1 The direct effects of infrastructure on nature ...............................................................................................15 3.2 The effects of infrastructure on population levels and ecosystems...............................................................16 Chapter 4 Context................................................................................................................................................18 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................18 4.2 Biogeografical description.........................................................................................................................18 4.3 Fragmentation as a result of urbanisation, intensive agriculture ..........................................................21 4.4 Regulations and policy...............................................................................................................................23 4.5 Planning, procedures and area-specific elaboration ...............................................................................25 Chapter 5 Fragmentation by existing infrastructure........................................................................................29 5.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................29 5.2 Infrastructure networks.............................................................................................................................29 5.3 Effects of the existing infrastructure network on nature.......................................................................34 5.3.1 Loss of habitat ....................................................................................................................................34 5.3.2 Disturbance..........................................................................................................................................35 5.3.3 Fauna victims.......................................................................................................................................37 5.3.4 Barrier effect .......................................................................................................................................42 5.3.5 Combined effects ..................................................................................................................................44 5.3.6 Corridor function................................................................................................................................44 5.3.7 Defragmentation on a landscape scale...............................................................................................46 5.3.8 Summary of bottlenecks.......................................................................................................................46 5.4 Secondary effects of infrastructure ..........................................................................................................50 Chapter 6 Road safety with respect to accidents with animals ........................................................................51 6.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................51 6.2 Accidents with animals ..............................................................................................................................51 Chapter 7 Dealing with fragmentation – prevention, mitigation and compensation .....................................55 7.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................55 7.2 The prevention of fragmentation ..............................................................................................................55 7.3 Mitigation measures...................................................................................................................................57 7.3.1 Possibilities for mitigation ..................................................................................................................57 7.3.2 Measures that have been implemented..............................................................................................62 7.3.3 Design criteria .................................................................................................................................64 7.4 Compensation measures ............................................................................................................................66 Chapter 8 Management and evaluation.............................................................................................................70 8.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................70 8.2 Management and maintenance of mitigation and compensation measures ..........................................70 8.3 Evaluating and monitoring mitigating and compensating measures.....................................................74 Chapter 9 Fragmentation and future development of the infrastructure.......................................................80 9.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................80 9.2 New policy, strategy and trends................................................................................................................80 9.3 Indicators ....................................................................................................................................................81 9.4 Models for predicting fragmentation by new infrastructure .................................................................83 9.5 The future development of the infrastructure network ..........................................................................86 9.6 Current and future studies........................................................................................................................91 Chapter 10 Economic aspects..............................................................................................................................95