Dry paths effectively reduce road mortality of small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrates

Wildlife passages are widely used mitigation measures designed to reduce the adverse impacts of roads on animals. We investigated whether road kills of small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrates can be reduced by constructing dry paths adjacent to streams that pass under road bridges. The study...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2014-11, Vol.144, p.51-57
Main Authors: Niemi, Milla, Jääskeläinen, Niina C., Nummi, Petri, Mäkelä, Tiina, Norrdahl, Kai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Traffic - prevention & control
Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data
Amphibians - physiology
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Corridor
Finland
Fresh water ecosystems
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Mammals - physiology
Models, Theoretical
Mortality
Movement
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
Reptiles - physiology
River-side
Road-kill
Seasons
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Vertebrates
Wildlife management
Wildlife passage
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Summary:Wildlife passages are widely used mitigation measures designed to reduce the adverse impacts of roads on animals. We investigated whether road kills of small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrates can be reduced by constructing dry paths adjacent to streams that pass under road bridges. The study was carried out in southern Finland during the summer of 2008. We selected ten road bridges with dry paths and ten bridges without them, and an individual dry land reference site for each study bridge on the basis of landscape and traffic features. A total of 307 dead terrestrial vertebrates were identified during the ten-week study period. The presence of dry paths decreased the amount of road-killed terrestrial vertebrates (Poisson GLMM; p 
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.05.012