Data to: Communities in infrastructure habitats are species-rich but only partly support species associated with semi-natural grasslands

Metadata for the study: Communities in infrastructure habitats are species-rich but only partly support species associated with semi-natural grasslands

Summary

This study makes part of the research project GINFRA – green rights-of-way infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The aim of the project was to quantify whether linear infrastructure habitats (road verges and power-line corridors) support biodiversity by assessing the influence of the area of these habitats in the landscape, their contribution to landscape connectivity and population persistence.

The linked data was collected by surveying butterflies, bumblebees, and vascular plants in five types of prevalent grasslands (pastures, road verges along small gravel roads, road verges along big paved roads, power line corridors, and field borders). These grasslands were embedded in 32 landscapes with an area of 4 km2 that differed in the area of linear infrastructure habitats (road verges and power line corridors) and semi-natural grasslands of high nature value, while other land-use types were kept constant. The landscapes were dominated by forest. 

Within each grassland habitat, the surveyor established a 200 m transect and then identified all butterflies and bumblebees along it. For plants, a 1 x 1 m quadrat was established at the centre of a 50 m section in each transect, i.e. each transect had four plots in which all plant species were identified.