Identifying migration corridors of mule deer threatened by highway development

Highways are hazardous to migratory ungulates world-wide, causing direct and indirect impacts to ungulate survival. Moreover, significant financial costs are incurred in damage from wildlife– vehicle collisions and in building and maintaining wildlife passage structures. Information is needed to lin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wildlife Society bulletin 2015-06, Vol.39 (2), p.256-267
Main Authors: Coe, Priscilla K., Nielson, Ryan M., Jackson, Dewaine H., Cupples, Jacqueline B., Seidel, Nigel E., Johnson, Bruce K., Gregory, Sara C., Bjornstrom, Greg A., Larkins, Autumn N., Speten, David A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal migration behavior
Brownian Bridge
corridors
Datasets
Deer
deer-vehicle collisions
Habitat corridors
Highways
migration
Mule deer
Odocoileus hemionus
Oregon
Original Article
passage
roads
Seasonal migration
Ungulates
Wildlife ecology
Wildlife management
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Summary:Highways are hazardous to migratory ungulates world-wide, causing direct and indirect impacts to ungulate survival. Moreover, significant financial costs are incurred in damage from wildlife– vehicle collisions and in building and maintaining wildlife passage structures. Information is needed to link ungulate movements to collision occurrence to prioritize needed construction of wildlife crossings on highways. We simultaneously documented mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) migration corridors and mule deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) in South-central Oregon, USA, over 6 years (2005–2011). We calculated Brownian Bridge Movement Models for 359 migrating mule deer equipped with Global Positioning System technology. We modeled DVC counts as functions of probability of use during migration, annual average daily traffic (AADT), and habitat characteristics. Probability of use during migration was the strongest predictor of where DVCs occurred (r= 0.93). Predicted DVCs also increased with AADT but peaked at approximately 8,000 and then decreased. Where AADT was above approximately 8,000, fewer deer attempted to cross the highway and DVCs decreased because, over time, deer either abandoned themigration route or were killed trying to cross this busy highway. Our results suggest that managers should focus on migration corridors or high-density DVC locations to identify where fencing and under/overpasses could be most effective for maintaining migratory corridors when confronting increasing traffic and development that bisect seasonal ranges of mule deer.
ISSN:1938-5463
1938-5463
2328-5540
DOI:10.1002/wsb.544