Roadkill-Data-Based Identification and Ranking of Mammal Habitats

Abstract

Wildlife–vehicle collisions, as well as environmental factors that affect collisions and mitigation measures, are usually modelled and analysed in the vicinity of or within roads, while habitat attractiveness to wildlife along with risk to drivers remain mostly underestimated. The main goal of this study was the identification, characterisation, and ranking of mammalian habitats in Lithuania in relation to 2002–2017 roadkill data. We identified habitat patches as areas (varying from 1 to 1488 square kilometres) isolated by neighbouring roads characterised by at least one wildlife–vehicle collision hotspot. We ranked all identified habitats on the basis of land cover, the presence of an ecological corridor, a mammalian pathway, and roadkill hotspot data. A ranking scenario describing both habitat attractiveness to wildlife and the risk to drivers was defined and applied. Ranks for each habitat were calculated using multiple criteria spatial decision support techniques. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify the relationship between habitat ranks, species richness, and land cover classes. Strong relationships were identified and are discussed between the habitat patch ranks in five (out of 28) land cover classes and in eight (out of 28) species (97% of all mammal road kills). We conclude that, along with conventional roadkill hotspot identification, roadkill-based habitat identification and characterisation as well as species richness analysis should be used in road safety infrastructure planning.

The Impact of Roadkill on Cervid Populations in Lithuania

“…In Estonia, only S. scrofa-based UVCs were analyzed for temporal patterns [46]. In Lithuania, most of the publications concerning animal-vehicle collisions were produced by the authors of this paper [11,19,20,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55], covering species composition, methodological, temporal and habitat-related roadkill aspects and the planning of mitigation measures. In Poland, most publications analyze various aspects of wild animals in general [56][57][58], including the influence of the COVID lockdown [59], while only a few are targeted specifically to A. alces or to all cervid species [60,61].…”

Seeking Sustainable Solutions in a Time of Change

“…In some way, all of them deal with the delicate relations between humans and wildlife [6] and movements toward sustainable human-dominated landscapes [7][8][9][10]. Major topics in this Special Issue include: (1) the impact of roads on fauna mortality (rates, detection, and modelling [11][12][13]; (2) the protection and conservation values of rural areas and species responses to habitat changes such as farming [8,9,14]; (3) the effects of changes in populations and habitats [7,15,16]; and (4) modelling species abundance and distribution [13,17]. Other notable subjects are reviewed, such as the role of private lands in species conservation [18] and the management of habitat in global bear conservation [19].…”