Drainage culverts as habitat linkages and factors affecting passage by mammals

Published source details Clevenger A.P., Chruszcz B. & Gunson K. (2001) Drainage culverts as habitat linkages and factors affecting passage by mammals. Journal of Applied Ecology, 38, 1340–1349.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Install tunnels/culverts/underpass under roads Action Link

Install tunnels/culverts/underpass under roads

A replicated study in 1999–2000 along two highways in Alberta, Canada (Clevenger et al. 2001) found that drainage culverts were used by at least nine mammal species. A total of 618 crossings were recorded. Species recorded were coyote Canis latrans (1% of crossings), American marten Martes americana (12%), weasel Mustela ermine and Mustela frenata (28%), snowshoe hare Lepus americanus (3%), red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (4%), bushy-tailed wood rat Neotoma cinerea (15%), shrew spp. Sorex spp. (8%), deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus (28%) and vole spp. Arvicolinae (0.5%). Culvert use was positively correlated with traffic volume (for hare, squirrel and marten), culvert openness (marten), culvert height (weasel), through-culvert visibility (hare) and adjacent shrub cover (hare). A range of factors negatively affected culvert use by mammals (see paper for details). Thirty-six drainage culverts were monitored along a 55-km section of the Trans-Canada highway (two- and four-lane sections, with and without central reservation) and a 24-km section of highway 1A (two lanes, no central reservation). Crossings were determined from sooted track-plates (75 × 30 cm) in each culvert, checked weekly in January–April of 1999–2000 (≥ 12 times/culvert) and tracks in adjacent snow indicating culvert use.

(Summarised by: Rebecca K. Smith)