title: Combining direct and indirect impacts to assess ecosystem service loss due to infrastructure construction.
abstract: The destruction of natural habitats and the associated loss of Ecosystem Services (ES) are rarely jointly assessed and quantified in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Based on a terrestrial transport infrastructure project, the objective of this paper is to quantify the potential loss of ES associated with direct and indirect impacts, and illustrate their contribution to decision-making for route options. We first quantify how much of each type of ES is generated by different land units in the absence of the infrastructure (baseline conditions). We then estimate ES loss caused by infrastructure construction in a way that discriminates among different types of ES and losses because some ES, in addition to losses that are directly proportional to the surface impacted, can show additional indirect losses associated with landscape connectivity. In addition, we illustrate how the assessment of threshold effects in particular ecosystem types that may be most sensitive to their occurrence can affect the estimation of ES loss. We compare implementation options to provide an example of how choices can be improved by assessing ES loss associated with a combination of direct and indirect impacts. This kind of analysis could be used more generally to assess development projects simply by adapting the framework of analysis to the type of project and the ecosystems concerned.
authors.affiliation: UMR 5474 LAMETA, Université Montpellier 1, Avenue Raymond Dugrand, F-34960 Montpellier, France. Electronic address: lea.tardieu@supagro.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Léa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tardieu
authors.affiliation: UMR 5474 LAMETA, Université Montpellier 1, Avenue Raymond Dugrand, F-34960 Montpellier, France; Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Route de Mende, F-34199 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roussel
authors.affiliation: UMR 5175 CEFE, CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, BP 5051, F-34033 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Egis Structures & Environnement, 33-43, Avenue Georges Pompidou, F-31130 Balma, France.
authors.forename: Dorothée
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Labarraque
authors.affiliation: UMR 5474 LAMETA, CNRS, 2 Place Viala, Bâtiment 26, F-34060 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Salles
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005602:France; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011890:Railroads / Q000191:economics*
keywords: Ecosystem services; Environmental impact assessment; Landscape connectivity; Linear infrastructure; Threshold behaviour