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Integrating large mammal behaviour and traffic flow to determine traversability of roads with heterogeneous traffic on a Central Indian Highway.
Saxena, Akanksha; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Rajvanshi, Asha; Habib, Bilal.
Afiliação
  • Saxena A; Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehra Dun, 248001, India.
  • Chatterjee N; Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehra Dun, 248001, India.
  • Rajvanshi A; Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehra Dun, 248001, India.
  • Habib B; Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehra Dun, 248001, India. bh@wii.gov.in.
Sci Rep ; 10(1): 18888, 2020 11 03.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33144654
ABSTRACT
Roads impact wildlife in multiple ways, most conspicuous amongst which are animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs). Mitigation measures to reduce AVCs at the local scale are often centred on species-specific crossing zones and collision hotspots. However, at the road network scale, consideration of interactions among road, species and traffic characteristics influencing AVC occurrence is required to design effective mitigation strategies. We modelled traversability-the probability of an animal successfully crossing a road- across an Indian highway for six large mammal species under different scenarios of road and traffic characteristics. Among the study species, group-living and slow-moving animals had higher AVC probabilities that increased significantly with increasing traffic volume and proportions of heavy vehicles in the traffic flow. The risk of AVC was higher for species that were active near roadside habitat during peak traffic hours. Our approach could help identify roads that pose potential mortality risks to animals using empirical data on animal and traffic characteristics. Results suggest that regulating traffic volume and heterogeneity on existing road stretches could potentially reduce animal mortality and barrier effect. Mitigation on roads expected to carry heavy traffic loads passing through ecologically-sensitive areas should be prioritised to ensure traversability for animal communities.

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2020 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2020 Tipo de documento: Article