Worldwide, the expansion of settlement and transport infrastructure is one of the most important proximate as well as ultimate causes of biodiversity loss. As much as every modern human society depends on a network of settlements that is well-connected by transport infrastructure (i.e., settlement network), animal and plant species depend on networks of habitats between which they can move (i.e., habitat networks). However, changes to a settlement network in a region often threaten the integrity of the region's habitat networks. Determining plans and policy to prevent these threats is made difficult by the numerous interactions and feedbacks that exist between and within the settlement and habitat networks. Mathematical models of coupled settlement and habitat networks can help us understand the dynamics of this social-ecological system. Yet, few attempts have been made to develop such mathematical models. In this paper, we promote the development of models of coupled settlement and habitat networks for biodiversity conservation. First, we present a conceptual framework of key variables that are ideally considered when operationalizing the coupling of settlement and habitat networks. In this framework, we first describe important network-internal interactions by differentiating between the structural (i.e., relating to purely physical conditions determining the suitability of a location for living or movement) and functional (i.e., relating to the actual presence, abundance or movement of people or other organisms) properties of either network. We then describe the main one-way influences that a settlement network can exert on the habitat networks and vice versa. Second, we give several recommendations for the mathematical modeling of coupled settlement and habitat networks and present several existing modeling approaches (e.g., habitat network models and land-use transport interaction models) that could be used for this purpose. Lastly, we elaborate on potential applications of models of coupled settlement van Strien et al. Coupling Settlement and Habitat Networks and habitat networks in the development of complex network theory, in the assessment of system resilience and in conservation, transport and urban planning. The development of coupled settlement and habitat network models is important to gain a better system-level understanding of biodiversity conservation under a rapidly urbanizing and growing human population.
In 2012 Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) initiated several projects in preparation of the new Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP) 2030. This included an update of the general methodology and in particular of its cost–benefit analysis which is used to evaluate the effects of hundreds of German infrastructure projects under study. As part of the work the first official values of time (VOT) and values of reliability (VOR) for personal and business travel for Germany derived from a stated preference survey were estimated. From May 2012 until January 2013 nationwide data of more than 3000 participants was collected in a combined two-stage revealed and stated preference survey. This paper discusses the survey design, reports experience of the field phase and analyses the response behaviour of the sample. The stated choice experiments address mode, route, time of departure, workplace and residential location choice. The complex multi-attribute experiments of different types cover various aspects of short and long-term travel choice attributes which the respondent has to take into consideration during his decision process. Furthermore overlapping variables of the stated and revealed preference experiments enabled a joint estimation of the whole data for deriving the VOTs and VORs. Additionally numerous socio-demographic and attitudinal questions plus the large sample size for business and non-business trips make it a unique dataset offering various aspects of travel behaviour and their valuations to explore.
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