The value of monitoring wildlife roadkill

Abstract

The number of wildlife-vehicle collisions has an obvious value in estimating the direct effects of roads on wildlife, i.e. mortality due to vehicle collisions. Given the nature of the data-species identification and location-there is, however, much wider ecological knowledge that can be gained by monitoring wildlife roadkill. Here, we review the added value and opportunities provided by these data, through a series of case studies where such data have been instrumental in contributing to the advancement of knowledge in species distributions, population dynamics, and animal behaviour, as well as informing us about health of the species and of the environment. We propose that consistently, systematically, and extensively monitoring roadkill facilitates five critical areas of ecological study: (1) monitoring of roadkill numbers, (2) monitoring of population trends, (3) mapping of native and invasive species distributions, (4) animal behaviour, and (5) monitoring of contaminants and disease. The collection of such data also offers a valuable opportunity for members of the public to be directly involved in scientific data collection and research (citizen science). Through continuing to monitor wildlife roadkill, we can expand our knowledge across a wide range of ecological research areas, as well as facilitating investigations that aim to reduce both the direct and indirect effects of roads on wildlife populations.

Impacts and Potential Mitigation of Road Mortality for Hedgehogs in Europe

“…Comparisons between short-term studies are difficult as roadkill rates can fluctuate with changes in hedgehog density, road conditions and traffic volume [ 22 ]. Alternatively, long-term roadkill data are valuable to observe changes in temporal behaviour or monitor population trends [ 23 ]. For example, Recihholf [ 24 ] and Müller [ 25 ] found hedgehog road mortality to have steadily decreased since the 1970s in Germany, and Wilson and Wembridge [ 26 ] found similar patterns in the UK since 2001.…”

Designing wildlife-vehicle conflict observation systems to inform ecology and transportation studies

“…The field of "road ecology" includes many published studies where volunteer, agency, and scientist-collected WVC data were used to assess ecological impacts at roadways. It is becoming increasingly common for these data to also be used in ecological studies, or in combined ecological and conservation studies (Schwartz et al, 2019). For example, Ha and Shilling (2017) used volunteer-reported WVC data to develop a deer distribution and deer-vehicle-conflict model for one-third of California.…”

“…Volunteer networks can provide extensive, long-term, and accurate data that may not otherwise be available to many agencies. Finally, WVC data are being used in ecological studies to study invasion, population and species well-being, and disease (Creley et al, 2019;Schwartz et al, 2019). 6.…”

Tetrasulfide‐Functionalized Mesoporous Silica on Nanowire Ring Resonators for Detection of Aqueous Lead, Pb(II)

“…The online detection of lead, Pb(II), in water still poses a considerable challenge to chemical sensors. Chronic exposure to lead has severe health effects on humans, especially young children, and has societal costs that have been estimated to run into billions of dollars . Conventional analytical methods achieve sub‐ppb detection limits but are not field‐deployable and typically require a trained operator and expensive lab infrastructure.…”