Temporal patterns of ungulate-vehicle collisions in a sparsely populated country

Ignatavičius, Gytautas; Ulevičius, Alius; Valskys, Vaidotas; Trakimas, Giedrius; Galinskaitė, Lina; Busher, Peter E.

doi:10.1007/s10344-020-01396-9

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In a review of white-tailed deer-vehicle collision literature, Steiner et al (2014) note that the difference in deer-vehicle collision frequency on weekends vs. weekdays is related to differences in traffic use patterns and intensity during daily periods of peak deer activity, rather than biological, ecological, or behavioral factors. This trend has also been observed with roe deer (Capreolus capreolus, Bíl et al 2020b, Ignatavičius et al 2020.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

MacDougall,

Bíl,

Andrášik

et al. 2024

E&S

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Although roads are central to human society, they have many negative environmental impacts and create risk for traveling motorists. Our aim was to evaluate the spatiotemporal evolution of ungulate-vehicle collision (UVC) hotspots in response to major road construction. We examined two different locations and scales in the province of Alberta, Canada: (1) a highway bypass adjacent to a large city with 4.5 km of wildlife mitigation measures (wildlife fencing and two underpasses) and ( 2) 55 km of rural highway that was converted from a two-lane to a four-lane divided highway. Using government police collision and carcass data (2000-2021), beforeafter and control-impact analyses were used to assess changes in UVC rates. Our approach is novel in that we tested the paired use of a clustering method known as kernel density estimation plus and a spatiotemporal stepwise modification of this method to monitor UVC hotspots. By monitoring UVCs over space and time, we could identify stable vs. ephemeral UVC hotspots, a fence-end effect, and a barrier effect due to traffic volume, and we could explore hotspot stability before and after construction. The wildlife mitigation measures along the highway bypass resulted in 86% fewer UVCs compared to an unmitigated highway. At a larger scale, however, net benefits were affected by road density. The construction of a four-lane divided highway with no wildlife mitigation measures and an increase in the posted speed limit resulted in a slight increase in UVCs and the reemergence of the majority of historical UVC hotspots. Our analysis highlighted the need to incorporate wildlife considerations at a variety of scales throughout the transportation planning and mitigation evaluation process.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

MacDougall,

Bíl,

Andrášik

et al. 2024

E&S

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“…the increase of browsing pressure by ungulates 64 , 65 , which significantly affects the forest stability, wood production and sensitivity to fluctuation of climatic factors 66 , 67 . Another serious effect of human disturbance to wildlife is increased risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions in areas with higher human activity 68 or close to urban areas with growing rate of human disturbances 69 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different patterns of human activities in nature during Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreak confirm direct impact on wildlife disruption

Cukor

Linda

Mahlerová

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Implementation of various restrictions to eradicate viral diseases has globally affected human activity and subsequently nature. But how can the altered routines of human activity (restrictions, lockdowns) affect wildlife behaviour? This study compared the differences between human and wildlife occurrences in the study forest area with acreage of 5430.6 ha in 2018 (African swine fever outbreak, complete entrance ban), 2019 (standard pattern) and 2020 (COVID-19 restrictions) during the breeding season. The number of visitors was lower by 64% in 2018 (non-respecting of the entry ban by forest visitors) compared to standard 2019, while in 2020, the number of visitors increased to 151%. In the COVID-19 period, distinct peaks in the number of visitors were observed between 8–11 AM and 4–7 PM. The peaks of wildlife activity were recorded between 4–7 AM and 9–12 PM. Animals avoided the localities that were visited by humans during the people-influenced time (24 h after people visit), which confirmed the direct negative impact of human activities on wildlife.

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“…Daily (24-h) RDVC distribution in late autumn and winter was clearly bimodal and almost evenly distributed between morning and evening hours. However, in summer, RDVCs were clearly associated with evening hours [ 4 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasing urbanization and the subsequent construction and increased use of roadways (both large and small) have increased the probability of human–wildlife interactions that are costly for all species involved [ 1 , 2 ]. Wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) continue to be a serious problem for both humans and wildlife species near urban areas, at the wildland–urban interface, and along all roadways [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. For example, Forman and Alexander [ 6 ] estimated that over a million vertebrates are killed per day in the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this amount does not include losses incurred due to injuries and deaths, which would significantly increase the annual cost of WVCs. Every year, more than 100 people are injured and at least one person is killed due to WVCs [ 4 ]. Many factors that influence the frequency of WVCs have been investigated, including biotic factors (wildlife species density, diel and seasonal behavior, roadside vegetation, and human traffic behavior) and abiotic factors (topography, weather, time of day, and season) [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lunar Phases and Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions: Application of the Lunar Disk Percentage Method

Ignatavičius

Ulevičius

Valskys

et al. 2021

Animals

Self Cite

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We investigated the relationship between lunar illumination based on the percentage of the visible lunar disk (LDP) and the frequency of wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) in Lithuania. We analyzed WVC frequency during ten 10% LDP intervals to more precisely reflect the relationship between LDP and WVC. The 10% LDP interval approach showed a significant trend of increasing WVC frequencies with an increasing LDP at night. We also examined the correlation between the daily numbers of WVCs and LDP for different months and seasons. The relationship seemed to be stronger at night and during the late autumn–winter months, particularly in December, suggesting the importance of lunar illumination on WVCs. There was a weak positive correlation between LDP and overall daily number of WVCs (rs = 0.091; p < 0.001) and between LDP and night WVCs (rs = 0.104; p < 0.001). We found significant positive correlations for winter (December–February) (rs = 0.118; p = 0.012) and autumn (August–November) (rs = 0.127; p = 0.007). Our study suggests that the LDP interval approach may provide more possibilities for the evaluation and quantification of WVCs and lunar light relationships than the traditional lunar phase approach.

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Temporal patterns of ungulate-vehicle collisions in a sparsely populated country

Cited by 6 publications

References 39 publications

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

Different patterns of human activities in nature during Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreak confirm direct impact on wildlife disruption

Lunar Phases and Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions: Application of the Lunar Disk Percentage Method

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Temporal patterns of ungulate-vehicle collisions in a sparsely populated country

Cited by 6 publications

References 39 publications

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate&#8211;vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate&#8211;vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

Different patterns of human activities in nature during Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreak confirm direct impact on wildlife disruption

Lunar Phases and Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions: Application of the Lunar Disk Percentage Method

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A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment

A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate–vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and realignment