Road-kills of the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) in Tasmania: an index of abundance

Abstract

The value of road-kill counts in monitoring changes in numbers of the eastern barred bandicoot, Perameles gunnii, was investigated in the Huon Valley, south-eastern Tasmania, by comparing population trends on two trapping grids with trends in road-kills on adjacent segments of highway. Between 1992 and 1996, both the number of P. gunnii on the trapping grids and the number of road-kills on the adjacent highway underwent a significant decline. While our data are preliminary, we suggest that road-kills may provide a useful index of gross, long-term trends in numbers of P. gunni. Such an index could be used to track long-term trends in local populations adjacent to a segment of highway, as in the present study. Alternatively, by considering a highway as a continuous ‘chain’ of such segments, road-kills may provide an index of trends over a larger (i.e. regional) scale.

Using the Dead to Mo Nitor the Living: Ca N Road Kill Counts Detect Trends in Mammal Abundance ?

“…Road casualty data has been shown to correlate with the densities of other mammal species such as eastern barred bandicoot, racoons (Procyon lotor) and foxes (Mallick et al, 1998;Gehrt et al, 2002). This method should therefore be investigated further by calibrating other live populations of mammal species to the numbers of road casualties.…”

“…A strong association between the two indices indicates that they can be considered reliable reflections of actual abundance, particularly if the association is maintained in a variety of habitats (Krebs, 1998). For example Drennan et al (1998) calibrated track station counts of Aberts squirrels (Sciurus aberti) against estimates from capture-mark-recapture methods, and in Tasmania, eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) road casualty numbers have been calibrated using population data that was obtained from live trapping grids in fields adjacent to the roads surveyed (Mallick et al, 1998).…”

Wild vertebrate roadkill in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Central Brazil

“…These studies have emphasized the need to plan road systems and have indicated that conservation should be a major goal of road planning (Forman et al 2003). In spite of the great influence of roads on the dynamics of wildlife populations, most studies examined their effects only on specific groups, such as amphibians (Hels & Buchwald 2001), birds (Reijnen et al 1995), mammals (Meunier et al 1999), or reptiles (Hartmann et al 2011), or even individual species, such as the Iberian lynx (Felis pardina) (Ferreras et al 1992), the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) (Mallick et al 1998) or the Mediterranean snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) (Capula et al 2014). A few studies have dealt with the impact of roads on the local vertebrate community, describing the species that are susceptible to road mortality and identifying those whose conservation status may be threatened by roads (Yanes et al 1995, Lodé 2000, Dodd et al 2004, Boitet & Mead, 2014.…”

The effect of road kills on amphibian populations

“…If they have to cross a road to get from their hibernation site to the breeding pond, or if a road runs through their terrestrial habitat, it may pose a serious threat to the population. Few studies, however, have related the number of road-killed individuals to the size of the total population, and as Huijser andBergers (1997) mention, andMallick et al (1998) infer, a species often found killed on roads may simply reflect the presence of large thriving populations.…”

“…Most studies regularly count road kills from slow-moving vehicles (Hansen 1982;Drews 1995;Rosen and Lowe 1994;Mallick et al 1998), or by foot (Fuellhaas et al 1989;Munguira and Thomas 1992). These assume that every victim is observed, which may be true for large conspicuous mammals, but is certainly not true for small animals.…”