T0591 Habitat Degradation

National Highways' Biodiversity Team is looking to set up a contract for the undertaking of research into habitat degradation curves. This will be used to define formal asset degradation curves for National Highways and be used to prioritise the maintenance to sustain biodiversity levels and a mosaic of land cover across the estate. Specific aims and objectives for this research task are:

• To standardise habitat degradation rates for NH soft estate assets, including regionally specific rates based on climate and geological variations throughout the UK.
• To define points of no return when standard cyclical maintenance activities for a given habitat type would no longer be possible on a plot resulting in a 'non maintainable' plot and 'run away' natural success without additional investment.
• To model and interpret the implications of findings on existing land use and maintenance regimes across the soft estate and to identify potential opportunities to alter maintenance regimes to ensure asset integrity.