Fauna and flora must be able to spread
Roads and railways connected to the fixed link over the Fehmarnbelt create new barriers in the landscape. These can have an impact on the way animals and plants spread in the area. What is affected? One example is the agile frog, which migrates between its wintering grounds in deciduous forest and waterholes where it breeds. Another example is bat, which orientate themselves in relation to trees and watercourses when moving around in the landscape. If a windbreak hedge or a watercourse is bisected by a traffic installation, bats can have trouble
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finding their way to their feeding grounds. Animals like roe deer, badgers, foxes and mice, as well as several species of amphibian, also need to move around in the landscape. Animals crossing roads and railways If animal passages are to work, the animals need to be able to find them easily. The chances improve when a passage is laid along existing landmark lines like watercourses, forest fringes and hedgerows along which animals often move. |
It is not just the link itself that may constitute a barrier. Light, noise, and pollution can also function as indirect barriers by making an area unsuitable as a habitat or feeding ground for animals.
The moor frog is an Annex IV species, which is specially protected in all EU countries. The frog breeds in ponds during the spring and lives in marshes during the summer. The design of the fixed link will take maximum account of the frog's needs to cross between pond and marsh.
