Operationalizing process‐based restoration for terrestrial communities

Ford, Adam T.

doi:10.1111/rec.13457

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…Fencing is used for a variety of purposes in conservation and science, including human-wildlife coexistence (Bauer, 1964;Packer et al, 2013), disease mitigation (Mysterud and Rolandsen, 2019), basic ecological research (Goheen et al, 2018), and ecological restoration (Laskin et al, 2020;Ford, 2021). Indeed, with the growing use of fencing in conservation, specialized analytical tools are being used to asses the response of wildlife movement (Xu et al, 2021) amid broader calls for developing the science of "fence ecology" (Jakes et al, 2018;McInturff et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Ford

Dorsey²,

Lee

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Wildlife exclusion fencing has become a standard component of highway mitigation systems designed to reduce collisions with large mammals. Past work on the effectiveness of exclusion fencing has relied heavily on control–impact (i.e., space-for-time substitutions) and before–after study designs. These designs limit inference and may confound the effectiveness of mitigation with co-occurring process that also changes the rate of collisions. We used a replicated (n = 2 sites monitored for over 1000 km years combined) before-after-control-impact study design to assess fencing effectiveness along the Trans-Canada Highway in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. We found that collisions declined for common ungulates species (elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer) by up to 96% but not for large carnivores. The weak response of carnivores is likely due to the combination of fence intrusions and low sample sizes. We calculated realized fencing effectiveness by applying the same change in collision rates observed at control (unfenced) sites as the expected change for adjacent fenced sections. Compared with the apparent fencing effectiveness (i.e., the difference in WVCs rates before and after fencing was installed), the realized estimates of fencing effectiveness declined by 6% at one site and increased by 10% at another site. When factoring in the cost of ungulate collisions to society, fencing provided a net economic gain within 1 year of construction. Over a 10-year period, fencing would provide a net economic gain of > $500,000 per km in reduced collisions. Our study highlights the benefits of long-term monitoring of road mitigation projects and provides evidence of fencing effectiveness for reducing wildlife–vehicle collisions involving large mammals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Ford

Dorsey²,

Lee

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fencing is being used for a variety of purposes in conservation and science, including human-wildlife coexistence (Bauer 1964, Packer et al 2013, disease mitigation (Mysterud and Rolandsen 2019), basic ecological research (Goheen et al 2018), and ecological restoration (Laskin et al 2020, Ford 2021). Indeed, with the growing use of fencing in conservation, specialised analytical tools are being used to assess the response of wildlife movement (Xu et al 2021) amidst broader calls for developing the science of "fence ecology" (Jakes et al 2018, McInturff et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Clevenger¹,

Ford²

2022

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Wildlife exclusion fencing has become a standard component of highway mitigation systems designing to reduce collisions with large mammals. Past work on the effectiveness of exclusion fencing has relied heavily on control-impact (i.e., space-for-time substitutions) and before-after study designs. These designs limit inference and may confound the effectiveness of mitigation with co-occurring process that also change the rate of collisions. We used a replicated before-after-control-impact study design to assess fencing effectiveness along the Trans-Canada Highway in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. We found that collisions declined for common ungulates species (elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer) by up to 96% but not for large carnivores. The weak response of carnivores is likely due to combination of fence intrusions and low sample sizes. When accounting for background changes in collision rates observed at control sites, naïve estimates of fencing effectiveness declined by 6% at one site to 90% and increased by 10% at another to a realized effectiveness of 82%. When factoring in the cost of ungulate collisions to society as a whole, fencing provided a net economic gain within 1 year of construction. Over a 10-year period, fencing would provide a net economic gain of >$500,000 per km in reduced collisions. In contrast, control site may take upwards of 90 years before the background rates of collisions decline to a break even point. Our study highlights the benefits of long-term monitoring of road mitigation projects and provides evidence of fencing effectiveness for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions involving large mammals.

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“…Although Banff has a high density of CS, finding ways to dilute use among more CS locations could reduce these risks posed by diseases. Finally, modifications to select CS to facilitate selective permeability of some species (e.g., carnivores) and not others (e.g., elk) may reduce risk of disease spread and human wildlife conflict (Ford 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term responses of an ecological community to highway mitigation measures

Ford¹,

Huijser²,

Clevenger³

2022

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In road mitigation systems characterized by multiple wildlife crossing structures (CS) and multiple-focal species, these species-specific design criteria are important to meeting management goals. CS types and locations are fixed in place and cannot be manipulated experimentally; long term studies may offer the best chance to inform evidence-based designs for new CS projects in the future. Long-term data from Banff National Park are uniquely posed to answer these critical questions. More recently, highway mitigation along US93 in Montana provides an additional case study with which to understand the responses of large animals to different CS designs. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting movement of large mammals through CS using data sets from both mitigation projects. Year-round monitoring of CS use was used in an analytical framework to address questions regarding species-specific and community level use of CS; design and habitat factors that best explain species-specific variation; and whether importance of design parameters changes over time. Over the 17 years of the Banff study, and the six years of the Montana study, CS facilitated over 200,000 crossing events at 55 locations. There were significant changes in annual crossing events over time. Variables associated with CS passage rates were species specific, but aligned with a few clusters of preference. With the exception of coyotes, all large carnivore species preferred open span bridges or overpasses to other CS types. In Montana, fencing was positively associated with passage rates for black bears and cougars. We found that wider CS tend to be preferred by most species, irrespective of their location. We also found that wider CS tend to have shorter ‘adaptation’ curves than narrower ones for grizzly bears, coyotes, cougars, and moose. Depending on the heterogeneity of the landscape near the highway, more CS may not create more crossing opportunities if local habitat conditions do not favor animals’ access to the road. At the scale of ecological communities, the flows of mass and energy are likely enough to alter the distribution of ecological processes in the Banff and Montana ecosystems. Our results highlight the value of long-term monitoring for assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Our work confirms the species-specific nature of measure CS performance, leading to our primary recommendation that a diversity of CS designs be considered an essential part of a well-designed mitigation system for the large mammals of western North America. Short-term monitoring efforts may fail to accurately portray the ecological benefits of mitigation for populations and ecological communities. Our results will help to inform design and aid in the establishment of robust, long-term performance measures.

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Operationalizing process‐based restoration for terrestrial communities

Cited by 10 publications

References 113 publications

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

A before-after-control-impact study of wildlife fencing along a highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Long-term responses of an ecological community to highway mitigation measures

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