Ecologically friendly verges

摘要

As the Irish rural landscape is traversed by an ever-expanding road network, the fragmentation of our native habitats is becoming a growing ecological concern. Habitat fragmentation occurs during initial road construction and as a result of traditional landscaping activities. It has been defined as the direct removal or breaking up of habitat leading to smaller, isolated remnants or patches of habitat and to decreased connectivity between these patches. The result is that roads can significantly fragment populations of flora and fauna, by having an adverse affect on an organism's ability to migrate and disperse across the landscape, hence reducing and isolating local population sizes, which can lead to the threat of local extinction. Traditional roadside management and associated landscaping activities have been site specific, mainly focusing on aesthetic design using non-native species and dominated by horticultural practices, with little consideration as to how a proposed action fits into the context of the broader ecosystem or landscape. New approaches include ecological engineering and ecosystem-based management, which aim to combat the adverse environmental effects of the road network, particularly that of habitat fragmentation, while also improving the quality of road users' experience.