Carcass Persistence and Detectability: Reducing the Uncertainty Surrounding Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Surveys

• Published in: PloS one 2016-11, Vol.11 (11), p.e0165608-e0165608
• Main Authors: Santos, Rodrigo Augusto Lima, Santos, Sara M, Santos-Reis, Margarida, Picanço de Figueiredo, Almir, Bager, Alex, Aguiar, Ludmilla M S, Ascensão, Fernando
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data; Animals; Animals, Wild; Biodiversity; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Birds; Body mass; Body Size; Cadaver; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Engineering and Technology; Estimates; Habitats; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mortality; Observers; People and Places; Polls & surveys; Rain; Risk Factors; Roads & highways; Scavengers; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Traffic; Uncertainty; Vertebrates; Weather; Weather conditions; Wildlife; Zoology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165608

Carcass persistence time and detectability are two main sources of uncertainty on roadkill surveys. In this study, we evaluate the influence of these uncertainties on roadkill surveys and estimates. To estimate carcass persistence time, three observers (including the driver) surveyed 114km by car on a monthly basis for two years, searching for wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC). Each survey consisted of five consecutive days. To estimate carcass detectability, we randomly selected stretches of 500m to be also surveyed on foot by two other observers (total 292 walked stretches, 146 km walked). We expected that body size of the carcass, road type, presence of scavengers and weather conditions to be the main drivers influencing the carcass persistence times, but their relative importance was unknown. We also expected detectability to be highly dependent on body size. Overall, we recorded low median persistence times (one day) and low detectability (