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"roadkill"
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Something rotten : a fresh look at roadkill
\"When Heather L. Montgomery sees a rattlesnake flattened on the side of the road, her first instinct is to pick it up and dissect it--she's always wanted to see how a snake's fangs retract when they close their mouths, and it's not exactly safe to poke around in a live reptile's mouth. A wildlife researcher with a special penchant for the animals that litter the roadways, Heather isn't satisfied with dissecting just one snake. Her fascination with roadkill sets her off on a journey from her own backyard and the roadways of the American South to scientists and kids in labs and homes across the globe. From biologists who use the corpses of Tasmanian devils to investigate cures for a contagious cancer, to a scientist who discovered a whole new species of bird from a single wing left behind, to a boy rebuilding animal bodies from the bones up, to a restaurant that serves up animal remnants, Heather discovers that death is just the beginning for these creatures\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Andean Fox, Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) (Mammalia, Canidae), in southwestern Colombia: new records and distribution update
The Andean Fox, Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782), is one of the largest endemic canids in South America. The northernmost part of its distribution lies in the Andes of southwestern Colombia, where it is known only from few localities. We present noteworthy records in southwestern Colombia, including one individual from the south-ern buffer area of Puracé National Park, a second individual found as roadkill on the Pan-American Highway, both in the Department of Cauca, and two additional records from the Colombian Massif. The Puracé record extents the distribution of this species by 74 km northward from previously verified localities.
Journal Article
Roadkill Patterns on Workdays, Weekends and Long Weekends: Anticipating the Implications of a Four-Day Work Week
Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of animal road mortality is important for planning protective measures and raising driver awareness. In our study of Lithuania, spanning from 2002 to 2022, we examined these patterns based on road types and categorized them by working days, weekends, and long weekends, predicting the potential impact of transitioning to a four-day working week. We found that road type explains 22–50% of the variability in roadkill numbers for moose, red deer, wild boar, and roe deer. The highest occurrences were on main roads, while regional roads had the fewest incidents. The overall number of roadkills, especially those involving ungulates, was highest on weekends, followed by workdays, with the least on long weekends. However, these variations lacked statistical significance, and their effect size was small. We also observed a trend of increased roadkill numbers on the day before, the first day, notably on All Saints Day, or the last day of long weekends. In this context, with the introduction of a four-day work week, we are only expecting the highest roadkill numbers to move from Friday to Thursday.
Journal Article
Animals under wheels: Wildlife roadkill data collection by citizen scientists as a part of their nature recording activities
‘Animals under wheels’ is a citizen science driven project that has collected almost 90,000 roadkill records from Flanders, Belgium, mainly between 2008 and 2020. However, until now, the platform and results have never been presented comprehensively to the scientific community and we highlight strengths and challenges of this system. Data collection occurred using the subsite www.dierenonderdewielen.be (‘animals under wheels’) or the multi-purpose biodiversity platform observation.org and the apps, allowing the registration of roadkill and living organisms alike. We recorded 4,314 citizen scientists who contributed with at least a single roadkill record (207-1,314 active users per year). Non-roadkill records were registered by 85% of these users and the median time between registration of the first and last record was over 6 years, indicating a very high volunteer retention. Based on photographs presented with the roadkill records (n = 7,687), volunteer users correctly identified 98.2% of the species. Vertebrates represent 99% of all roadkill records. Over 145,000 km of transects were monitored, resulting in 1,726 mammal and 2,041 bird victims. Carcass encounter rates and composition of the top 10 detected species list was dependent on monitoring speed. Roadkill data collected during transects only represented 6% of all roadkill data available in the dataset. The remaining 60,478 bird and mammal roadkill records were opportunistically collected. The top species list, based on the opportunistically collected roadkill data, is clearly biased towards larger, enigmatic species. Although indirect evidence showed an increase in search effort for roadkill from 2010-2020, the number of roadkill records did not increase, indicating that roadkills are diminishing. Mitigation measures preventing roadkill could have had an effect on this, but decrease in population densities was likely to (partially) influence this result. As a case study, the mammal roadkill data were explored. We used linear regressions for the 17 most registered mammal species, determining per species if the relative proportion per year changed significantly between 2010 and 2020 (1 significant decrease, 7 significant increases). We investigated the seasonal patterns in roadkill for the 17 mammal species, and patterns per species were consistent over the years, although restrictions on human movement, due to COVID-19, influenced the seasonal pattern for some species in 2020. In conclusion, citizen scientists are a very valuable asset in investigating wildlife roadkill. While we present the results from Flanders, the platform and apps are freely available for projects anywhere in the world.
Journal Article
Disentangling roadkill: the influence of landscape and season on cumulative vertebrate mortality in South Korea
This study recorded and analyzed cumulative vertebrate roadkill data on 107 km of roads in rural South Korea and reports the first intensive roadkill study results from Asia. Over 30 months, roadkill strikes and adjacent landscape factors were recorded daily or every other day on three types of roads: highway, local, and riverside. For analysis, roads were segmented into 250-m units, and roadkill hotspot segments were calculated with the Getis–Ord Gi* statistic. Eighteen road characteristics and landscape factors were correlated to roadkill hotspots using multiple logistic regression analysis. Mammal mortality increased from spring to fall, whereas bird mortality peaked in summer. Reptile and amphibian mortality peaked during fall. Seasonal focal species’ mortality tracked the taxonomic groups they represent, except oriental scops owl (Otus scops), for which yearly mortality peaked 2 months earlier than for most birds. Mammal and bird roadkill hotspots were concentrated on the highway, which passes across mountains, whereas amphibian and reptile hotspots were on the riverside road because of movements related to breeding, juvenile dispersal, and hibernation. However, many species used the spatially complex agricultural fields along the local road, especially during harvest season. The significant site and landscape factors that influenced overall roadkill hotspots were a high landscape percentage of water and rice paddies, low traffic volumes, high percentage of natural vegetation, an absence of road banking, high roadside grass presence, and an absence of drainage. South Korea has an active wildlife-crossing management program, and these findings can inform avoidance, minimization, and mitigation strategies and practices.
Journal Article
Exo-erythrocytic development of Plasmodium matutinum (lineage pLINN1) in a naturally infected roadkill fieldfare Turdus pilaris
Background Species of Plasmodium (Haemosporida, Plasmodiidae) are remarkably diverse haemoparasites. Information on genetic diversity of avian malaria pathogens has been accumulating rapidly, however exo-erythrocytic development of these organisms remains insufficiently addressed. This is unfortunate because, contrary to Plasmodium species parasitizing mammals, the avian malaria parasites undergo several cycles of exo-erythrocytic development, often resulting in damage of various organs. Insufficient knowledge on the exo-erythrocytic development in most described Plasmodium species precludes the understanding of mechanisms of virulence during avian malaria. This study extends information on the exo-erythrocytic development of bird malaria parasites. Methods A roadkill fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) was sampled in Switzerland and examined using pathologic, cytologic, histologic, molecular and microbiologic methods. Avian malaria was diagnosed, and erythrocytic and exo-erythrocytic stages of the parasite were identified using morphologic characteristics and barcode DNA sequences of the cytochrome b gene. The species-specific characteristics were described, illustrated, and pathologic changes were reported. Results An infection with Plasmodium matutinum lineage pLINN1 was detected. Parasitaemia was relatively low (0.3%), with all erythrocytic stages (trophozoites, meronts and gametocytes) present in blood films. Most growing erythrocytic meronts were markedly vacuolated, which is a species-specific feature of this parasite's development. Phanerozoites at different stages of maturation were seen in leukocytes, macrophages, and capillary endothelial cells in most organs examined; they were particularly numerous in the brain. Like the erythrocytic meronts, growing phanerozoites were markedly vacuolated. Conspicuous exo-erythrocytic development and maturation in leucocytes suggests that this fieldfare was not adapted to the infection and the parasite was capable to escape from cellular immunity. Conclusions This is the first report of exo-erythrocytic development of the malaria parasite lineage pLINN1 during single infection and the first report of this lineage in the fieldfare. The findings of multiple phanerozoites in brain, skeletal muscle, and eye tissue in combination with signs of vascular blockage and thrombus formation strongly suggest an impaired vision and neuromuscular responsiveness as cause of the unexpected collision with a slowly moving car. Further studies on exo-erythrocytic stages of haemosporidian parasites are pivotal to understand the true level of populational damage of avian malaria in wild birds.
Journal Article
Malayan Tapir Roadkill: Assessment Towards Road User and Mitigation Strategies
Biodiversity conservation has become one of the key components in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. In line with Goal 11 towards sustainable cities and communities and Goal 15 for life on land, the conflict between animals and humans must be reduced. Persisting the development of infrastructure and urbanization, animals, particularly the Malayan Tapir, have been on the brink of extinction as their numbers have been depleted due to roadkill. These animals need to migrate in search of food and shelter. However, deforestation and land conversion into highways and buildings make it challenging for them to survive. This study investigated the road user awareness and perception of Malayan tapir roadkill and strategies for mitigation among villagers in Felda Bersia, Perak. From the results, deforestation and illegal logging are the leading causes of roadkill, with a mean value of 4.36. Later, road user attitudes and awareness are the most significant factors, as 95.3% of respondents need more understanding of preserving the Malayan Tapir from roadkill, by which the preservation methods scored an overall mean value of 4.19. Therefore, it evaluated the effectiveness of the management approaches in reducing roadkill, focusing on road users' viewpoints and preferences. Mitigation options included identifying roadkill hotspots and maintaining more fences. These findings will aid in guiding the conservation efforts and upgrading the development of targeted strategies to protect the Malayan tapir population. Moreover, by engaging with local communities and incorporating road user perspectives, this outcome would later promote a collaborative approach to safeguarding this endangered species from becoming extinct.
Journal Article
TRAFFIC INSIDE PROTECTED AREAS: DON'T STAND ASIDE
In this note, we provide documentary evidence of how inviting slower vehicles to move over to facilitate the passage of faster vehicles on roads in protected areas can pose a conservation threat in these areas that were so designated precisely because they host healthy wildlife populations.
Journal Article
On the road’s side: the influence of a road on the agroforestry vertebrate community
Roads are essential for social and economic development, but their presence often leads to deforestation, habitat loss, changes in wildlife behaviour and distribution, and loss through collisions with vehicles. In southern Bahia state in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest hotspot, cocoa agroforestry systems are vital in connecting natural fragments and supporting local biodiversity. This study assessed the impacts of a 24 km segment of the BA-262 road, a route linked to the construction of a new port. During May–December 2022, we recorded vertebrate roadkill events and analysed their relationship with traffic volume, identifying high-risk zones. Camera traps and live traps were deployed in forest fragments to evaluate mammal presence near and along the road, comparing species detected near the road with those recorded as roadkill. In total, we documented 243 roadkill events, with amphibians being the group most affected (153 individuals, 63% of the total recorded), followed by reptiles (49, 20%), birds (28, 12%) and mammals (13, 5%). Hotspot analyses revealed nine roadkill clusters. Camera traps along the road recorded 409 images of 21 mammal species from eight orders. Although species richness was unaffected by proximity to the road, relative abundance increased closer to the road. Mammals appeared less affected by the road than other groups, probably because they are mostly active at night, when traffic is lower. This research highlights the ecological impacts of roads on biodiversity-rich areas, underscoring the need for mitigation measures to reduce wildlife mortality and offering insights for future research.
Journal Article