Table 1 Description of the PECO/PICO items of the primary question

Population

All species and communities of the temperate climatic zone^a

Exposure

LTI verges (road, railway, power line and pipeline verges and waterway banks)

Intervention

Management practices or environmental disturbance of LTI verges

Comparator

Both temporal and spatial comparators, including but not restricted to:

 Temporal comparators:

  Ecosystem present before infrastructure construction (when the habitat of the previous ecosystem and of the verge will be similar)

  Verge before management intervention

 Spatial comparators:

  Nearby undisturbed similar ecosystem

  Nearby unmanaged similar verge

Outcome

All outcomes relating to corridor or habitat assessment, including but not restricted to, species dispersal and species richness