Effective Placement of Road Mitigation Using Lessons Learned from Turtle Crossing Signs in Ontario

Gunson, Kari E.; Schueler, Frederick W.

doi:10.3368/er.30.4.329

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Given the adult stage is often the most important stage for λ of long‐lived species (Heppell 1998), we explored the effects of increased adult survival. Although road barriers (Woltz et al 2008, Heaven et al 2019), creation of nesting areas (Buhlmann and Osborn 2011, Geller 2012), turtle crossing signs on roadways (Gunson and Schueler 2012), and removing predators (Fordham et al 2007) are commonly used methods for reducing adult mortality, there are no estimates of their overall effects on adult survival. Consequently, we increased adult survival at 2% increments to explore the effects of adult‐focused management actions in conjunction with nest protection while assuming our most ideal scenarios for head‐starting (i.e., 75% hatchlings head‐started, and high head‐start juvenile survival rate; Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not all management is equal: a comparison of methods to increase wood turtle population viability

et al. 2022

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Management generally targets the most tractable life stage to rescue declining populations; however, that stage may not have the largest influence on recovery. Freshwater turtles are declining globally and early stages are frequently targeted for management, although the effectiveness of these actions on population growth are relatively unknown because of incomplete demographic data. We estimated the hatchling yearly survival rate for a freshwater turtle in the field using in situ enclosures to collect missing demographic information. We used these data to develop demographic models to calculate growth rate for a hypothetical, declining population of wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in Wisconsin, USA, 2014–2019. We modeled growth for populations across a range of scenarios from no management to combinations of nest protection and head‐starting at varying levels of effort. Nest protection alone did not increase population growth rate, while head‐starting alone increased population growth by 0.07, with the largest increase in growth rate, 0.11, resulting from combinations of both approaches. No combination of nest protection and head‐starting, without an increase in adult survival rate from the observed 0.88 to ≥0.95, led to population stabilization or increase. Populations of freshwater turtles, like the wood turtle, will likely only recover with a multi‐faceted approach that targets multiple life stages simultaneously.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not all management is equal: a comparison of methods to increase wood turtle population viability

et al. 2022

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“…To mitigate collision occurrence in MVC hotspots, we recommend the installation of appropriate wildlife warning signage at each MVC hotspot; such signs have since been installed at MVC hotspots in our study area. Highway sites with slightly fewer MVCs could also be considered for sign installation, but such decisions should weigh site-specific collision risk with the overall number of signs erected along highways in a region and the tendency of drivers to become desensitized to signs when commonplace (Al-Ghamdi andAlGadhi 2004, Gunson andSchueler 2012).…”

Section: Summary and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing Moose–Vehicle Collision Hotspots in Northern British Columbia

Rea

Johnson

Emmons

2014

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

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To have a better understanding of the ecological factors that may contribute to moose Alces alces and vehicle collisions in northern British Columbia, we analyzed Wildlife Accident Reporting System data that were collected between 2000 and 2005 by highway maintenance contractors. We delineated 29 moose-vehicle collision hotspots and 15 control sites at which we assessed environmental and road infrastructure attributes through field surveys and remotely sensed data. A logistic regression model including both coarse- and fine-scale environmental factors suggested that hotspots were more likely to be characterized by the number of roadside mineral licks and bisection of the highway corridor through black spruce forest–sphagnum bog habitat and swamps. The absence of rivers within 1 km and less lake area within 500 m of the highway also better characterized hotspots than controls. At the fine scale, deciduous forest cover along the highway edge and the proportion of browse to nonbrowse vegetation between the road shoulder and forest edge were also related to collision sites. Based on these data, the mitigation of collision hotspots should include decommissioning roadside mineral licks where they occur and cutting roadside brush to improve driver visibility and reduce browse resprouting and attractiveness. Where new road construction or road realignments are being contemplated, we recommend considering routes with more lake area, more rivers, fewer swamps, and fewer black spruce forest–sphagnum bog habitats to help reduce collisions. We discuss the utility of installing novel warning signage in areas where collisions are recurrent.

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“…Although wildlife crossing signs are becoming ubiquitous across the landscape, their effectiveness at reducing road mortality is largely untested (Glista, DeVault, & DeWoody, 2009); however, a study on freshwater turtles showed that they did not decrease road mortality in Ontario (Seburn & McCurdy‐Adams, 2019). Additionally, research suggests that any positive impact they do have on driver behavior can be reduced by factors such as vandalism and placement within actual wildlife‐vehicle collision (WVC) hotspots (Gunson & Schueler, 2012). Conversely, measures that have been shown to reduce WVCs, such as overpasses, underpasses, and fencing, are more uncommon and are less likely to be incorporated into road construction projects, likely due to their prohibitive costs (Glista et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retrofit ecopassages effectively reduce freshwater turtle road mortality in the Lake Simcoe Watershed

Read

Thompson

2021

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Although the negative impacts of roads on herpetiles are well documented, broad-scale implementation of effective mitigation measures to address these impacts remains limited. Here, we evaluated whether a novel, cost-effective, retrofit ecopassage design can reduce road mortality of herpetiles in the Lake Simcoe Watershed, using a before-after-control-impact study. We also examined whether the ecopassages impacted the movement of turtles across the landscape using wildlife cameras. Our study indicated that the ecopassages significantly reduced turtle road mortality at the treatment sites but were not effective at mitigating road mortality of other herpetiles. Most turtle road-kill at the ecopassages sites occurred at fence ends, highlighting the need for solutions to address fence-end effects for herpetiles. There was no evidence that the ecopassages reduced turtles' ability to move between habitats as individuals were observed crossing through the ecopassages. Our results suggest that inexpensive solutions can effectively mitigate road mortality for turtles and taller fencing could improve the design for other species. Ecopassages, such as the ones tested in this study, should be widely implemented in road-kill hotspots across all regions, especially in habitats of rare or at-risk species, in order to protect turtles and other wildlife from the increasing threat of roads.

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Effective Placement of Road Mitigation Using Lessons Learned from Turtle Crossing Signs in Ontario

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

Not all management is equal: a comparison of methods to increase wood turtle population viability

Not all management is equal: a comparison of methods to increase wood turtle population viability

Characterizing Moose–Vehicle Collision Hotspots in Northern British Columbia

Retrofit ecopassages effectively reduce freshwater turtle road mortality in the Lake Simcoe Watershed

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