Roadkill risk and population vulnerability in European birds and mammals

Grilo, Clara; Koroleva, Elena A.; Andrášik, Richard; Bíl, Michal; González‐Suárez, Manuela

doi:10.1002/fee.2216

Cited by 96 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Larger mammal species and those with slower life histories were both less likely to occur in areas of high human footprint and exhibited lower intensity of use when present. The human footprint is associated with a multitude of threats including vehicle strikes (Grilo et al, 2020), sensory pollution (Dominoni et al, 2020), and invasive species (Shochat et al, 2010). Our results suggest that smaller mammals and those with faster life histories are better able to avoid these threats (Hill et al, 2020) or can offset heightened anthropogenic mortality through high reproductive rates (Santini et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Suraci

Gaynor

Allen

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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Human activity and land use change impact every landscape on Earth, driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others. Species ecological and life history traits may predict success in human‐dominated landscapes such that only species with “winning” combinations of traits will persist in disturbed environments. However, this link between species traits and successful coexistence with humans remains obscured by the complexity of anthropogenic disturbances and variability among study systems. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America to quantify the effects of (1) the direct presence of people and (2) the human footprint (landscape modification) on mammal occurrence and activity levels. Thirty‐three percent of mammal species exhibited a net negative response (i.e., reduced occurrence or activity) to increasing human presence and/or footprint across populations, whereas 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. However, apparent benefits of human presence and footprint tended to decrease or disappear at higher disturbance levels, indicative of thresholds in mammal species’ capacity to tolerate disturbance or exploit human‐dominated landscapes. Species ecological and life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster‐reproducing species. The positive and negative effects of human presence were distributed more randomly with respect to species trait values, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds. Differential responses by some species to human presence and human footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife. Our approach provides insights into the complex mechanisms through which human activities shape mammal communities globally, revealing the drivers of the loss of larger predators in human‐modified landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Suraci

Gaynor

Allen

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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show abstract

“…Globally, one of the most important direct and detrimental impacts on wildlife is the collision with vehicles while crossing roads (Forman and Alexander 1998;Bennett 2017), which may result in millions of collisions per year globally (Nyhus 2016). This in turn sparks human-wildlife conflicts driven by compromised road safety: for example, deer-vehicle collisions are estimated at 2 million/year in Europe and the USA, with more than 200 human deaths/year and another 30,000 injuries, while other estimates indicate that 194 million birds and 29 million mammals are killed on European roads every year (Bissonette et al 2008;Langbein et al 2011;Grilo et al 2020). In this sense, road mitigation measures are a crucial tool to limit wildlife-vehicle collisions (roadkills) and to guarantee safety for wildlife and humans (van der Grift and van der Ree 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The identification of wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots: Citizen science reveals spatial and temporal patterns

2021

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Linear infrastructures (e.g., roads, railways, pipelines, and powerlines) pose a serious threat to wildlife, due to the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions (roadkills). The placement of mitigation measures, such as crossing structures, should consider species’ life cycles and ecological requirements. Such an assessment would require data collection over large areas, which may be possible by employing citizen science. In this study, we aimed to identify spatio-temporal trends of roadkill occurrence using citizen science data from one of the most urbanized and biodiversity-rich regions of Italy. Temporal trends were analyzed using generalized additive models, while landscape patterns were assessed by identifying significant thresholds over land cover gradients, related to increases in relative roadkill abundance, by employing threshold indicator taxa analysis. Our approach recorded a total of 529 roadkills, including 33 different species, comprising 13 mammal, 10 bird, 6 reptile, and 2 amphibian species. Statistical analysis indicated significant temporal trends for the red fox, the European hedgehog, the stone marten and the European badger, with peaks in roadkill occurrence between the winter and spring months. Relative roadkill abundance increased mostly in landscapes with anthropogenic land cover classes, such as complex cultivations, orchards, or urban surfaces. Our results allowed us to develop a map of potential roadkill risk that could assist in planning the placement of mitigation measures. Citizen science contributions from highly populated areas allowed data collection over a large area and a dense road network, and also directly led to the evaluation of management decisional options.

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“…Documenting the distinct patterns in migratory and local movement has significant implications for conservation. Birds and insects usually concentrate in different temporal and spatial ranges with non-identical flight behavior, requiring different management plans to reduce human-wildlife conflict, such as collision with wind turbines or vehicles [13][14][15], or pest control [16]. Recent studies have provided insights into the non-migratory movements of certain groups of species, such as the lengthy aerial life of swifts [17][18][19], the mating flight of ants [20], and the dispersal flight of aquatic insects [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Trends in Movement Patterns of Birds and Insects Aloft Simultaneously Recorded by Radar

et al. 2021

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Airspace is a key but not well-understood habitat for many animal species. Enormous amounts of insects and birds use the airspace to forage, disperse, and migrate. Despite numerous studies on migration, the year-round flight activities of both birds and insects are still poorly studied. We used a 2 year dataset from a vertical-looking radar in Central Europe and developed an iterative hypothesis-testing algorithm to investigate the general temporal pattern of migratory and local movements. We estimated at least 3 million bird and 20 million insect passages over a 1 km transect annually. Most surprisingly, peak non-directional bird movement intensities during summer were of the same magnitude as seasonal directional movement peaks. Birds showed clear peaks in seasonally directional movements during day and night, coinciding well with the main migration period documented in this region. Directional insect movements occurred throughout the year, paralleling non-directional movements. In spring and summer, insect movements were non-directional; in autumn, their movements concentrated toward the southwest, similar to birds. Notably, the nocturnal movements of insects did not appear until April, while directional movements mainly occurred in autumn. This simple monitoring reveals how little we still know about the movement of biomass through airspace.

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Roadkill risk and population vulnerability in European birds and mammals

Cited by 96 publications

References 25 publications

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

The identification of wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots: Citizen science reveals spatial and temporal patterns

Seasonal Trends in Movement Patterns of Birds and Insects Aloft Simultaneously Recorded by Radar

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