Ecological impact assessment -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1: Introduction -- 1.1 The EclA process -- 1.1.1 Scoping -- 1.1.2 Focusing -- 1.1.3 Impact prediction -- 1.1.4 Evaluation -- 1.1.5 Mitigation -- 1.1.6 Monitoring -- 1.1.7 Geographical information systems -- 1.1.8 Survey design and analysis -- 1.2 Recommended reading -- 2: Legislative contexts for ecological impact assessment -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Environmental impact assessment -- 2.2.1 The EIA process -- 2.2.2 Project-EIA -- 2.2.3 Strategic environmental assessment -- 2.3 Differences in formal EIA procedures: implications for EclA -- 2.3.1 Responsibility for undertaking EIA -- 2.3.2 Eligibility for EIA (indicative thresholds) -- 2.3.3 Consideration of alternatives -- 2.3.4 Public consultation and participation -- 2.3.5 Reviewing the EIA process -- 2.3.6 Monitoring -- 2.3.7 Guidance -- 2.4 Legislation for international and trans-boundary effects -- 2.4.1 The Convention on Biological Diversity -- 2.5 Regulation of industrial activity -- 2.5.1 Control of industrial hazards -- 2.5.2 Integrated pollution control -- 2.6 EclA's role in sustainable development -- 2.7 Recommended reading -- 3: Scoping -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Deriving EclA study limits -- 3.3 Characteristics of the proposal -- 3.4 Characteristics of the receiving environment -- 3.4.1 Ecosystem classifications -- 3.4.2 Species-habitat relationships -- 3.4.3 Species distribution data -- 3.4.4 Historical distributions or management -- 3.4.5 Preliminary studies -- 3.5 Impact screening -- 3.5.1 Introduction -- 3.5.2 Checklists and matrices -- 3.5.3 Networks -- 3.5.4 Conceptual models -- 3.5.5 Geographical information systems -- 3.6 Exposure assessment -- 3.6.1 Home-range size -- 3.6.2 Population density -- 3.6.3 Social organization -- 3.6.4 Population dynamics -- 3.6.5 Seasonal patterns of use or activity.

3.6.6 Mobility -- 3.6.7 Resource dependence and habitat specificity -- 3.6.8 Interdependencies (linkages) -- 3.7 Recommended reading -- 4: Focusing procedures -- 4.1 Valued ecosystem components -- 4.2 Criteria for selecting species as VECs -- 4.2.1 Public appeal (charismatic and emblematic species) -- 4.2.2 Economic importance -- 4.2.3 Protected status -- 4.2.4 Rarity -- 4.2.5 Endangerment or conservation status -- 4.2.6 Indicator species -- 4.2.7 Guild indicators -- 4.2.8 'Umbrella species' -- 4.2.9 Ecological role: keystone species -- 4.2.10 Availability of consistent survey methods -- 4.2.11 Expediency -- 4.3 Habitats -- 4.4 Special (designated) sites -- 4.5 Ecosystem structure -- 4.5.1 Community composition -- 4.5.2 Species richness and species diversity -- 4.6 Ecosystem functions or processes -- 4.6.1 Population processes -- 4.6.2 Regulation of population size: density-dependent and density-independent mechanisms -- 4.6.3 Species-centred environmental analysis -- 4.7 Assessment endpoints -- 4.8 Screening VECs -- 4.8.1 Selecting measurement endpoints -- 4.9 Recommended reading -- 5: Identifying and predicting impacts -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Baseline assessment -- 5.3 Types of ecological impact -- 5.3.1 Mechanisms of ecological impact expression -- 5.3.2 Wildlife mortality -- 5.3.3 Habitat loss -- 5.3.4 Habitat fragmentation -- 5.3.5 Habitat insularization -- 5.3.6 Barrier effects -- 5.3.7 Disturbance -- 5.3.8 Effects on species composition -- 5.3.9 Cumulative effects -- 5.3.10 Sources of cumulative impact -- 5.3.11 Responses of ecosystems -- 5.3.12 Measuring cumulative impacts and effects -- 5.4 Techniques for impact prediction -- 5.4.1 Description and correlation -- 5.4.2 Experimental systems -- 5.4.3 Models -- 5.4.4 Habitat evaluation procedure -- 5.4.5 Using HEP for impact assessment -- 5.5 Recommended reading -- 6: Evaluation.

6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Important sites or areas -- 6.3 Ecological evaluation criteria -- 6.3.1 Extinction risk -- 6.3.2 Population viability -- 6.3.3 Minimum viable populations -- 6.3.4 Metapopulation approaches: their role in PVA -- 6.3.5 Reductions in genetic diversity: implications for viability -- 6.3.6 Effective population size -- 6.3.7 Minimum habitat area -- 6.3.8 'Home range' -- 6.3.9 Capability and suitability -- 6.3.10 Rarity -- 6.3.11 Resilience -- 6.3.12 Fragility -- 6.3.13 Stability -- 6.3.14 Diversity/complexity -- 6.3.15 Replaceability -- 6.3.16 Endangerment -- 6.4 Multiple criteria in evaluation -- 6.4.1 Scoring and weighting -- 6.4.2 Biological integrity or ecosystem health -- 6.5 Social and economic evaluation -- 6.6 Environmental economic valuation -- 6.6.1 Values of environmental assets -- 6.6.2 Cost-benefit analysis -- 6.6.3 Methods based on market values -- 6.6.4 Contingent valuation method -- 6.6.5 The hedonic pricing method -- 6.6.6 The travel cost method -- 6.6.7 Replacement costs -- 6.6.8 Sustainability objectives -- 6.7 Recommended reading -- 7: Ecological mitigation -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 What is mitigation? -- 7.3 Avoidance -- 7.4 Rescue -- 7.5 Management of receptors -- 7.6 Repair, reinstatement, restoration -- 7.7 Compensation -- 7.7.1 Mitigation banking -- 7.8 Implementing mitigation proposals -- 7.9 Evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation proposals -- 7.9.1 The value of natural resources -- 7.9.2 Replaceability -- 7.9.3 Issues of redistribution -- 7.9.4 Technical feasibility -- 7.9.5 Prescriptions for mitigation -- 7.9.6 Costs of mitigation -- 7.10 The role of mitigation in sustainable development -- 7.11 Recommended reading -- 8: Monitoring -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Ecological monitoring -- 8.2.1 Requirements for monitoring standards -- 8.2.2 Focusing ecological monitoring effort.

8.2.3 The US Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program -- 8.2.4 International guidelines for biodiversity monitoring -- 8.2.5 Biodiversity inventories -- 8.2.6 The UK's Countryside Survey 1990 -- 8.3 EclA audit and review -- 8.4 Recommended reading -- 9: Geographical information systems for ecological impact assessment -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.1.1 The GIS database -- 9.1.2 Sources of data -- 9.1.3 Exploring relationships -- 9.2 GIS applications in EclA -- 9.2.1 GIS for cumulative effects assessment -- 9.2.2 GIS for mapping ecosystems -- 9.2.3 GIS for mapping habitat potential -- 9.2.4 GIS for strategic ecological assessment -- 9.3 Weighing up the benefits of GIS for EclA -- 9.4 Recommended reading -- 10: Ecological impact assessment design and analysis -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Common shortcomings -- 10.3 Legislative barriers -- 10.4 Institutional barriers -- 10.5 Scientific barriers -- 10.6 Accounting for natural variation -- 10.7 Dealing with uncertainty -- 10.7.1 Temporal uncertainty -- 10.7.2 Uncertainty due to complexity -- 10.7.3 Uncertainty due to measurement -- 10.7.4 Errors under uncertainty -- 10.7.5 Sensitivity analysis -- 10.8 Statistical solutions -- 10.8.1 The need for effective controls -- 10.8.2 The need for replication -- 10.8.3 Pseudoreplication -- 10.8.4 BACIP design -- 10.8.5 State space analysis -- 10.9 Closing checklists -- 10.10 EcIA and decision-making -- 10.11 Recommended reading -- Glossary -- References -- Index.