Study

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a wildlife roadkill mitigation system in wetland habitat

  • 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

Install barrier fencing along roads

Action Link
Terrestrial Mammal Conservation
  1. 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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