Distribution and abundance of roadkill on Tasmanian highways: human management options

Hobday, Alistair J.; Minstrell, Melinda

doi:10.1071/wr08067

Cited by 132 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Identifying locations of clusters of WVC is a common step preceding mitigation and conservation actions to protect wildlife from vehicle-caused mortality (e.g., Hobday and Minstrell 2008). In the present study, cluster locations were found to vary in position along study highways across years of observations.…”

Section: Mitigation Planningmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Animals die as result of collisions with vehicles because of traffic speed, traffic volumes, seasonal changes in movement, separation of important habitat areas, occluded lineof-sight, and other factors (Barthelmess 2014;Hobday and Minstrell 2008;Litvaitis and Tash 2008). Most of the observations of dead animals made using the online, state systems described here were opportunistic and thus do not reflect actual rates of WVC on a particular roadway.…”

Section: Wildlife-vehicle Collisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots at US highway extents: scale and data source effects

Shilling¹,

Waetjen²

2015

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Highways provide commuter traffic and goods movement among regions and cities through wild, protected areas. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) can occur frequently when wildlife are present, impacting drivers and animals. Because collisions are often avoidable with constructed mitigation and reduced speeds, transportation agencies often want to know where they can act most effectively and what kinds of mitigation are cost-effective. For this study, WVC occurrences were obtained from two sources: 1) highway agencies that monitor carcass retrieval and disposal by agency maintenance staff and 2) opportunistic observations of carcasses by participants in two statewide systems, the California Roadkill Observation System (CROS; http://wildlifecrossing.net/california) and the Maine Audubon Wildlife Road Watch (MAWRW; http://wildlifecrossing.net/maine). Between September, 2009 and December 31, 2014, >33,700 independent observations of >450 vertebrate species had been recorded in these online, form-based informatics systems by >1,300 observers. We asked whether or not WVC observations collected by these extensive, volunteer-science networks could be used to inform transportation-mitigation planning. Cluster analyses of volunteer-observed WVC were performed using spatial autocorrelation tests for parts or all of 34 state highways and interstates. Statistically-significant WVC hotspots were modeled using the GetisOrd Gi* statistic. High density locations of WVC, that were not necessarily hotspots, were also visualized. Statistically-significant hotspots were identified along ~7,900 km of highways. These hotspots are shown to vary in position from year to year. For highways with frequent deer-vehicle collisions, annual costs from

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Section: Mitigation Planningmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Wildlife-vehicle Collisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots at US highway extents: scale and data source effects

Shilling¹,

Waetjen²

2015

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“…Early road ecology research used roadkill to monitor changes in population (e.g., Baker et al, 2004), focused on emblematic species (e.g., Hobday and Minstrell, 2008) or examined spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution of roadkill (e.g., Taylor and Goldingay, 2004;Ramp et al, 2005). Many of these studies relied on road surveys conducted at regular intervals by trained observers (Barthelmess and Brooks, 2010;D'Amico et al, 2015b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Value of Citizen Science for Roadkill Studies: A Case Study from South Africa

et al. 2018

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Roads impact wildlife through a range of mechanisms from habitat loss and decreased landscape connectivity to direct mortality through wildlife-vehicle collisions (roadkill). These collisions have been rated amongst the highest modern risks to wildlife. With the development of "citizen science" projects, in which members of the public participate in data collection, it is now possible to monitor the impacts of roads over scales far beyond the limit of traditional studies. However, the reliability of data provided by citizen scientists for roadkill studies remains largely untested. This study used a dataset of 2,666 roadkill reports on national and regional roads in South Africa (total length ∼170,000 km) over 3 years. We first compared roadkill data collected from trained road patrols operating on a major highway with data submitted by citizen scientists on the same road section (431 km). We found that despite minor differences, the broad spatial and taxonomic patterns were similar between trained reporters and untrained citizen scientists. We then compared data provided by two groups of citizen scientists across South Africa: (1) those working in the zoology/conservation sector (that we have termed "regular observers," whose reports were considered to be more accurate due to their knowledge and experience), and (2) occasional observers, whose reports required verification by an expert. Again, there were few differences between the type of roadkill report provided by regular and occasional reporters; both types identified the same area (or cluster) where roadkill was reported most frequently. However, occasional observers tended to report charismatic and easily identifiable species more often than road patrols or regular observers. We conclude that citizen scientists can provide reliable data for roadkill studies when it comes to identifying general patterns and high-risk areas. Thus, citizen science has the potential to be a valuable tool for identifying potential roadkill hotspots and at-risk species across large spatial and temporal scales that are otherwise impractical and expensive when using standard data collection methodologies. This tool allows researchers to extract data and focus their efforts on potential areas and species of concern, with the ultimate goal of implementing effective roadkill-reduction measures.

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“…An estimated 377,000 to 1,500,000 vertebrates are killed along Tasmanian roads each year (Hobday and Minstrell, 2008). Other studies have estimated single species rates of road kill ranging from 2.1 to 78.8 individuals km -1 y -1 (Freeman, 2010 and references therein;Quintero-Ángel et al, 2012).…”

Section: Impact Of Voucher Specimen Collection On Wild Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value and impacts of collecting vertebrate voucher specimens, with guidelines for ethical collection

Menkhorst

Rylah

Vic

2014

MMV

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Clemann, N., Rowe, K.M.C., Rowe, K.C., Raadik, T., Gomon, M., Menkhorst, P., Sumner, J., Bray, D., Norman, M. and Melville, J. 2014. Value and impacts of collecting vertebrate voucher specimens, with guidelines for ethical collection. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 72: 141-151.Museum collections of preserved faunal specimens are immensely valuable resources for understanding the natural world, and such understanding has a crucial role to play during the current biodiversity extinction crisis. Collections of specimens, and the benefits accrued by collections, are not static; new and fresh specimens, or specimens from uncollected localities or of differing demographics, are always needed. Despite this, resistance to collecting specimens is mounting, as is an erroneous belief that modern techniques (such as molecular analyses) and technologies (such as digital cameras and tracking devices) negate the need to collect specimens. Contemporary technology sometimes facilitates a reduction in the number of voucher specimens that need to be collected, but it does not eliminate the need to collect. Concerns about animal rights have and will continue to play a crucial and desirable role in rectifying unnecessarily poor treatment of fauna, but we believe that judicious collection of specimens is at times a higher priority than preserving the life of every possible individual. We argue that museum collections provide essential verifiable evidence of species' occurrence over time and space, and thus permit rigorous taxonomic, biological and ecological investigations. The value of specimen data for these studies today and for the decades and centuries that follow, justifies the judicious collecting of specimens. Using local examples, we demonstrate the benefits provided by specimens, the need for continued collecting in Victoria, and a framework with which to guide the decision-making process for the collection of vertebrate specimens.

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Distribution and abundance of roadkill on Tasmanian highways: human management options

Cited by 132 publications

References 22 publications

Wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots at US highway extents: scale and data source effects

Wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots at US highway extents: scale and data source effects

Testing the Value of Citizen Science for Roadkill Studies: A Case Study from South Africa

Value and impacts of collecting vertebrate voucher specimens, with guidelines for ethical collection

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