Trends and spatial patterns in ungulate‐vehicle collisions in Sweden

Abstract

S e ile r, A . 2 0 0 4 : T re n d s a n d sp a tia l p a tte r n s in u n g u la te -v e h ic le c o llis io n s in S w e d e n . -W ild l. B io l. 10: 3 0 1 -3 1 3 . I s tu d ie d tr e n d s a n d th e sp a tia l v a ria tio n in u n g u la te -v e h ic le c o llisio n s (U V C ) in S w e d e n v a ry in g th e sp a tial re so lu tio n in o rd e r to te st th e h y p o th e sis th a t U V C a re p ro p o rtio n a l to a n im a l d e n sity a n d tra ffic v o lu m e . S p a tia l p a tte rn s w e re stu d ie d at th e le v e l o f in d iv id u a l h u n tin g a re a s (N = 3 1 1 ), m o o s e m a n a g e m e n t d is tric ts (N = 9 5 ), a n d c o u n tie s (N = 2 2 ), w h e re a s tre n d s in U V C w e re s tu d ie d at n ational, c o un ty a n d d istrict le vel c o v erin g p e rio d s o f 3 0 ,1 6 a n d 12 years, re sp ec tiv e ly . D u rin g 1 9 7 0 -1 9 9 9 th e o v e ra ll n u m b e r o f re p o rte d c o llisio n s w ith m o o se Alces alces a n d r o e d e e r Capreolus capreolus w a s c lo se ly c o rr e la te d w ith c h a n g es in an nu a l g a m e b a g s a n d th e in c re ase in tra ffic v o lu m e . L a rg e -sc ale sp a tial v a ria tio n s in U V C a lso sh o w e d a str o n g c o rre la tio n w ith h a rv e st a n d tra f fic. T h e ra tio o f c o llis io n n u m b e r s to h a r v e st, h o w e v e r, in c re a s e d s ig n if ic a n t ly o v e r tim e , s u g g e stin g a g ro w in g im p o r ta n c e o f tra ffic o v e r u n g u la te m a n a g e m e n t. W ith in c re a s e d re so lu tio n , o th e r e n v ir o n m e n ta l fa c to rs su c h a s p r e fe rre d h a b ita t, ro a d d e n s ity a n d th e p re s e n c e o f ro a d u n d e rp a s s e s th a t c a n p r o v id e p a s s a g e s fo r w ild lif e , g a in e d sig n if ic a n c e o v e r u n g u la te d e n sity a n d tra f fic v o lu m e . M y re su lts su g g e st th a t th e re la tio n s h ip b e tw e e n a n im a l ab u n d a n c e , ro ad traffic , m itig a tio n m e a su re s a n d c o llisio n n u m b e rs a re n o t linear. F o r fu tu re p r e d ic tio n , e v a lu a tio n a n d m itig a tio n o f U V C in S w e d e n , im p ro v e d k n o w le d g e a b o u t p a s s a g e d e s ig n , fe n c e lo c a tio n , a n d th e o c c u rre n c e o f U V C in tim e a n d sp a c e is n e e d e d .

Large-scale spatiotemporal variation in road mortality of moose: Is it all about population density?

“…Our results support a number of previous studies showing that the number of UVC's are positively related to population density and traffic volume, and that weather influence the number of UVC (McCaffery 1973, Lavsund and Sandegren 1991, Mysterud 2004, Seiler 2004, Dussault et al 2006, Farrell and Tappe 2007. However, the temporal effects varied between areas, where the effect sizes were close to zero in several counties.…”

“…At the current stage, most of our understanding of UVC is based on studies conducted at relatively small spatial and temporal scales, whereas only a few studies have explored the variation in UVCs over several years and over larger geographical areas (Mysterud 2004, Seiler 2004. However, such larger scale studies are important because many of the presumably most important causal factors may only be detectable at large spatial and temporal scales.…”

A perspectiva da mídia online sobre os acidentes entre veículos e animais em rodovias brasileiras: uma questão de segurança?

“…Na Suécia, são registradas 4.500 colisões entre veículos e alces (Alces alces) e 24.000 corças (Capreolus capreolus) em média por ano. Além disso, nota-se que colisões entre ungulados e veículos têm aumentado, provavelmente em resposta ao aumento do tráfego (Seiler, 2004). Nos Estados Unidos, estima-se que anualmente ocorrem 2 milhões de colisões entre veículos e mamíferos de grande porte, tendo como consequência 211 mortes de pessoas e mais de 29.000 feridos (Huijser et al, 2009).…”

Temporal patterns of moose-vehicle collisions with and without personal injuries

“…on injury rates in animal-vehicle collisions is limited, some studies suggest that less than 5% of 46 deer-vehicle collisions lead to personal injuries (reviewed by Conover et al, 1995), while the injury 47 rate in moose-vehicle collisions (MVCs) are reported to be 10-20% or even higher (Garret and The most important large-scale factors related to the annual number of MVCs are moose density 55 and traffic volume (Lavsund and Sandegren, 1991;Rolandsen et al, 2011;Seiler, 2004). Yet, on a 56 more local scale, the number of MVCs on a certain road may decrease with increasing traffic 57 volume due to a barrier effect (Seiler, 2005).…”

“…Based on previous studies in Norway (Rolandsen et al, 2011) and Sweden (Seiler, 2004 (Table 1B), which 243 explained 47% of the yearly variation.…”