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Jackowiak B., Ratyńska H., Szwed W. & Wojterska M.
Influence of transport infrastructure on habitats and vegetation: methodological grounds for analysis and an attempt at assessment.
Abstract: In the previous practice of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) plant cover and natural habi­tats were treated as a matter of secondary importance. It has not been in accordance with the methodological assumptions of EIA, which indicate that such assessments should have a comprehensive, holistic character. On the basis of long standing experience connected with the project of A2 highway construction in the western part of Poland, this article presents a methodical proposal comprising the most important stages of evaluation of such enterprise impact on plant cover and natural habitats. Identification, valorization and col­lision assessment of the planned highway involves the following levels of natural environment organization: population, phytocoenotic and landscape. The basis for identification of plant communities are the methodo­logical guidelines of Braun-Blanquet phytosociological school. In the process of valorization characteristics of species and plant associations, including, among others, their uniqueness and the degree of threat in dif­ferent spatial scales, are taken into account. For the collision assessment of the enterprise, on the one hand, the natural values of plant cover and habitats and their susceptibility to anthropopression and on the other, a route of the highway and its constructional characteristic are considered. The work proposes also several ways of mitigation of the investment impact on natural environment, including means for minimization and compensation of losses resulting from the realization of the enterprise.
Key words: highways, environmental impact assessment methodology, plant cover, mitigation, compensa­tion, habitats, Natura 2000

Suggested citation: Jackowiak B., Ratyńska H., Szwed W. & Wojterska M. 2007. Influence of transport infrastructure on habitats and vegetation: methodological grounds for analysis and an attempt at assessment. In: B. Jackowiak (ed.). Influence of Transport Infrastructure on Nature. General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways, p. 51-63. Warszawa-Poznań-Lublin.
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