Evaluation of the effectiveness of a wildlife roadkill mitigation system in wetland habitat
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Published source details
Bager A. & Fontoura V. (2013) Evaluation of the effectiveness of a wildlife roadkill mitigation system in wetland habitat. Ecological Engineering, 53, 31–38.
Published source details Bager A. & Fontoura V. (2013) Evaluation of the effectiveness of a wildlife roadkill mitigation system in wetland habitat. Ecological Engineering, 53, 31–38.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
Action | Category | |
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Install barrier fencing along roads Action Link |
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Install barrier fencing along roads
A controlled, before-and-after study in 1995–2002 along a highway through a wetland in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Bager & Fontoura 2013) found that roadside fencing and underpasses reduced the number of road-kills of coypu Myocastor coypus. Fewer coypu were killed by cars after fencing was installed (3.6 coypu/100 km/day) than before (8.3 coypu/100 km/day). The total number of animal road-kills (including all mammals, birds and reptiles) after fencing was installed (10.3 animals/100 km/day) was smaller than before fencing (15.3 animals/100 km/day) (this result was not tested for statistical significance). Road-kill rates fell in fenced sections but increased in the unfenced section (see paper for details). Two sections of a two-lane highway, totalling 10.2 km long, were fenced in 1998. The fence was 50–100-mm mesh, 1.10 m high. Between these sections was a 5.5-km-long unfenced section. Nineteen underpasses in total were also installed along these three road sections. Road-kills were counted from a car from July 1995 to June 2002. Monitoring was conducted at an average speed of 50 km/h, by 2–4 observers, along 15.7 km of highway. A total of 619 monitoring runs were made before fence installation (July 1995 to September 1998) and 571 afterwards (October 1998 to June 2002).
(Summarised by: Ricardo Rocha)
Output references
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