Wild vertebrates roadkill aggregations on the BR-050 highway, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Carvalho-Roel, Carine Firmino; Custódio, Ana Elizabeth Iannini; Marçal, Oswaldo

doi:10.14393/bj-v31n3a2015-27468

Cited by 24 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…We analyzed the dataset from one year of research produced by Carvalho et al (2015). This monitoring was done by car, weekly, from April 2012 to March 2013, totaling 8,064 km.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study area is located in an area of Cerrado biome characterized by intense fragmentation of natural habitats (forests, cerrado sensu stricto, and 'veredas' or palm swamps), which have been replaced by pastures and crops, the dominant characteristics of the landscape surrounding the highway (CARVALHO et al, 2015). The climate according to the Köppen classification is Aw, showing seasonal traits with rain in the summer and a dry winter; average temperatures range between 17°C and 23°C, annual temperature range between 7°C and 9°C and relative humidity of the air range between 40 and 80% (ROSA et al, 1991).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Europe, USA and Canada some studies tried to understand this (CLEVENGER et al, 2003;GRILO et al, 2009;GRILO et al, 2012;D'AMICO et al, 2015;GARRIGA et al, 2017) and concluded that temperature influences roadkill (D'AMICO et al, 2015;GARRIGA et al, 2017). In Brazil, we have just started, our researches investigate if there are more roadkill in the rainy or dry season (BUENO; ALMEIDA, 2010;RAMOS et al, 2011;BRAZ;FRANÇA, 2016) or the stretches of the highway with higher roadkill rates (CÁCERES et al, 2012;BUENO et al, 2012;SANTANA, 2012;FERREIRA et al, 2014;CARVALHO et al, 2015;ASCENSÃO et al, 2017;SANTOS et al, 2017). We still need to understand better the influence of climate variables on roadkill in tropical countries, such as Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of climate variables on roadkill rates of wild vertebrates in the cerrado biome, Brazil

Carvalho-Roel¹,

Custódio²,

Júnior³

2017

Biosci. J.

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ABSTRACT:Wildlife road killing is a problem for animal conservation in the world. In order to mitigate this problem, it is necessary to understand the factors that affect it, like seasonality and climatic variables. The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of climatic variables (mean temperature, relative air humidity and accumulated precipitation), seasonality and average daily traffic (ADT) on vertebrate roadkill rates in an area of Cerrado biome, Brazil. The study area is a stretch of 96 km of the highway BR-050, a four-lane road, between the cities of Uberlândia and Uberaba, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This area is characterized by intense fragmentation of natural areas, with few remnants of Cerrado biome. The climate has two very defined seasons, a warm and rainy summer and a very dry winter. We analyzed data from roadkill monitoring carried out from April 2012 to March 2013. The road was monitored weekly by car at an average speed of 60 km/h, by two observers, totaling 8,064 km surveyed. The highest roadkill rates for reptiles were recorded in the rainy season, for the other groups (mammals and birds) no difference was found. We also checked seasonality for the most abundant species: the highest number of roadkills was found in the rainy season for the common boa (Boa constrictor amarali) and for the six-banded armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus). For the crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), striped hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus semistriatus) and red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata) we found no difference. The humidity and accumulated precipitation positively influenced the reptile roadkill rate. As expected, the same result was found for Boa constrictor amarali. Mammal roadkill rate increases with accumulated precipitation, on the other hand, Euphractus sexcinctus roadkill rate increases with temperature. Birds are not affected by climate variables, nevertheless, Cariama cristata roadkill rate decreases as humidity increases. Contrary to expectations, ADT had no influence on roadkill rates. These results show that it is necessary to investigate the influence of possible descriptor variables on mammals, birds and reptiles separately and not for all vertebrates as a group. Furthermore, certain species may even present different temporal patterns.

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“…We analyzed the dataset from one year of research produced by Carvalho et al (2015). This monitoring was done by car, weekly, from April 2012 to March 2013, totaling 8,064 km.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of climate variables on roadkill rates of wild vertebrates in the cerrado biome, Brazil

Carvalho-Roel¹,

Custódio²,

Júnior³

2017

Biosci. J.

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“…In recent years, studies that investigated the factors that involve roadkill of vertebrates have been quite common (Astudillo et al 2014, Carvalho et al 2015, Kang et al 2016. However, as mentioned by Cunha et al (2010), it is difficult to compare results because roads have different characteristics and previous studies used different methodological and sampling procedures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Human Demographic or Biological Factors Influence Mammal Roadkill? A Case Study in the Go-060 Highway

2019

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Roads cause several environmental impacts, such as roadkill of wild animals, which may result in the decrease of local fauna density. Roadkill occurs because roads intersect the habitats of many taxa, especially in fragmented landscapes, such as the Cerrado biome. The present study aimed to determine whether demographic variables or biological characteristics influence the mammal's roadkill rate. A survey was conducted in the section of the GO-060 highway located between the municipalities of Trindade and Iporá, from April to September 2012, during the dry season. We used Kruskal-Wallis tests to investigate possible differences among roadkills per sector, species, order, food habit, and activity pattern. Pearson correlation was used to verify the association between roadkill rate and home range. The influence of body mass on the roadkill rate was estimated through a simple linear regression. To verify whether human demographic variables influence the roadkill, we used a multiple linear regression. We recorded 89 individuals of mammals during 18 field trips and obtained a roadkill rate of 0.025 individuals/km/day. Mammals with different food habits have different roadkill rates, once herbivorous mammals are less prone to be roadkilled than omnivorous and insectivorous species. Characteristics such as home range, body mass and activity patterns were not determinant of roadkill rates in this study. Similarly, human demographic variables did not influence the number of roadkills. Biological and ecological characteristics should be considered when implementing measures to reduce roadkill. Hence, it becomes clear that surveys of fauna roadkill should consider both human demographic and biological variables, once, in this research, none of them are relevant by itself, they can be considered complementary information, and can be used to support practical actions.

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“…These data indicate the urgency of studies addressing this issue, in order to reduce the loss of biodiversity and public expenditures (Bager, Piedras, Martin, & Hóbus, 2007). Nevertheless, studies focusing on wildlife roadkill aggregation are recent in this country (Coelho, Kindel, & Coelho, 2008;Esperandio, 2011;Bueno, Freitas, Coutinho, Oswaldo Cruz, & Castro Júnior, 2012;Santana, 2012;Ferreira, Ribas, Casella, & Mendes, 2014;Carvalho, Iannini Custodio, & Marçal Junior, 2015;Ascensão, Desbiez, Medici, & Bager, 2017;Santos et al, 2017). Although it is not a focus of wildlife roadkill monitoring, domestic animals are also being killed on roads and because of their size, they can pose a threat to human safety.…”

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confidence: 99%

Do roadkill aggregations of wild and domestic mammals overlap?

Carvalho-Roel

Custódio

Júnior

2019

RBT

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Domestic animals are involved in a large number of traffic accidents and they represent danger to humans due to their size. Despite this, few studies consider domestic animals. That is why we evaluate mammals’ roadkill aggregations in order to locate them and to determine if wild and domestic mammals’ roadkills overlap. In addition, we investigate the influence of the landscape on the location of the aggregations. This study was carried out on the BR-050 highway, an area of Cerrado biome, in Southeastern Brazil. The monitoring was executed from April 2012 to March 2013, by car, at an average speed of 60 km/h, with two observers looking for roadkills on the highway. We found 482 mammals’ roadkills, including 260 (54 %) wild mammals, 164 (34 %) domestic and 58 (12.0 %) undetermined specimens. Of the 21 recorded mammal species, five were domestic. The wild mammals’ roadkill rate was 0.03 (± 0.02) individuals/km/day and the domestic roadkill rate was 0.02 (± 0.01). We detected roadkill aggregations for wild and domestic mammals. Roadkill hotspots of domestic mammals and wild mammals did not overlap. The variables that had the highest influence on wild mammals’ roadkill probability were: agriculture and silviculture cover as positive effects and distance to the nearest river, to the urban perimeter and to a natural fragment as negative effects. For domestic mammals these variables were: area of the smallest fragment and distance to a natural fragment as positive effects and silviculture cover as a negative effect. The explanation for the wild and domestic mammals’ roadkill hotspot non overlapping seems to be the effect of each variable in determining the roadkill hotspot since their effect is different for wild and domestic mammals. On the other hand, this non overlapping can be a result of domestic mammals’ scavenging habits. We propose different kinds of mitigation measures in order to reduce domestic and wild mammals’ roadkill.

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Wild vertebrates roadkill aggregations on the BR-050 highway, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Cited by 24 publications

References 16 publications

Influence of climate variables on roadkill rates of wild vertebrates in the cerrado biome, Brazil

Influence of climate variables on roadkill rates of wild vertebrates in the cerrado biome, Brazil

Can Human Demographic or Biological Factors Influence Mammal Roadkill? A Case Study in the Go-060 Highway

Do roadkill aggregations of wild and domestic mammals overlap?

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