Chapter 13
Evaluating and Mitigating the Impact
of a High-Speed Railway on Connectivity:
A Case Study with an Amphibian Species
in France
Céline Clauzel
Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate and mitigate the impact of a
high-speed railway (HSR) line on functional connectivity for the European tree frog
(Hyla arborea), an amphibian species highly sensitive to habitat fragmentation. The
method consists of modeling its ecological network using graph theory before and
after the implementation of the infrastructure and of evaluating changes in connectivity. This diachronic analysis helps visualize the potential impact of the HSR
line and to identify areas likely to be most affected by the infrastructure.
Keywords Impact assessment Á Landscape connectivity Á Ecological network Á
Graph theory Á Amphibians
Introduction
Among world’s vertebrates, amphibians have the highest proportion of threatened
species, currently estimated at 32% by the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2016). This
proportion could increase in the future because at least 42% of all amphibian
species are declining in population (Stuart et al. 2008). Habitat loss, degradation
and fragmentation are the greatest threats to amphibians. Fragmentation is a spatial
process which affects habitat patches by decreasing their size or increasing their
isolation (Fahrig 2003), making landscape less permeable to wildlife movements
and gene flow (Cushman 2006; Forman and Alexander 1998). Amphibians are
particularly affected because of the importance of movements during their life cycle
C. Clauzel (&)
LADYSS, UMR 7533 CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, University Paris-Diderot,
5 rue Thomas Mann, 75013 Paris, France
e-mail: celine.clauzel@univ-paris-diderot.fr
C. Clauzel
TheMA, CNRS, University Bourgogne Franche-Comté,
32 rue Mégevand, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_13
215
Evaluating and Mitigating the Impact
of a High-Speed Railway on Connectivity:
A Case Study with an Amphibian Species
in France
Céline Clauzel
Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate and mitigate the impact of a
high-speed railway (HSR) line on functional connectivity for the European tree frog
(Hyla arborea), an amphibian species highly sensitive to habitat fragmentation. The
method consists of modeling its ecological network using graph theory before and
after the implementation of the infrastructure and of evaluating changes in connectivity. This diachronic analysis helps visualize the potential impact of the HSR
line and to identify areas likely to be most affected by the infrastructure.
Keywords Impact assessment Á Landscape connectivity Á Ecological network Á
Graph theory Á Amphibians
Introduction
Among world’s vertebrates, amphibians have the highest proportion of threatened
species, currently estimated at 32% by the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2016). This
proportion could increase in the future because at least 42% of all amphibian
species are declining in population (Stuart et al. 2008). Habitat loss, degradation
and fragmentation are the greatest threats to amphibians. Fragmentation is a spatial
process which affects habitat patches by decreasing their size or increasing their
isolation (Fahrig 2003), making landscape less permeable to wildlife movements
and gene flow (Cushman 2006; Forman and Alexander 1998). Amphibians are
particularly affected because of the importance of movements during their life cycle
C. Clauzel (&)
LADYSS, UMR 7533 CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, University Paris-Diderot,
5 rue Thomas Mann, 75013 Paris, France
e-mail: celine.clauzel@univ-paris-diderot.fr
C. Clauzel
TheMA, CNRS, University Bourgogne Franche-Comté,
32 rue Mégevand, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_13
215