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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced human activities through city lock-downs and restricted traffic flows. It had been suggested that roadkill occurrences are strongly associated with traffic volume. I evaluated the association between traffic volume and roadkill during COVID-19, from March to May 2020, using 26,130 roadkill data points recorded from the highway network in Hokkaido from 2010 to 2020, Japan. Results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between roadkill numbers and traffic volume over the past decade. However, the roadkill during COVID-19 restricted human activity did not diminish, although traffic volume decreased during this period.

Golden langurs (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan have received little research attention in the anthropic environments where most of the population lives. We recorded group sizes and compositions and documented sleep sites for 24 golden langur groups living in a biological corridor (N = 9) and near a human settlement (N = 15) in central Bhutan. We used scan sampling to document behaviors and direct observation and camera traps to record potential predators, and we recorded occurrences of mortality, including two cases of electrocution, one case of roadkill, and one langur skull recovered from a possible leopard prey cache. Golden langur groups were on average significantly larger near human settlements (13.73 individuals) than in the biological corridor (9.55 individuals), and the adult sex ratio was greater near human settlements. The golden langurs usually slept in more than one tree, and our preliminary results indicated rare re-use of the same sleep site. Golden langurs in our study area most often slept in Sapium insigne trees. Sleep trees’ mean DBH was 51.58 cm and the mean height was 19.37 m. We intend for our preliminary data to establish the foundation for future research on the behavior and ecology of golden langurs in Bhutan.

The Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) is an important small game species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula for which the incidence of roadkill is unknown. We surveyed Iberian hare–vehicle accidents on road networks in southern Spain, focusing on roads that mainly run through favorable habitats for this species: Mediterranean landscapes with plots of arable crops, olive groves, and vineyards. We recorded roadkills over a 5-month period, estimated hare accident densities on roads, and compared these numbers to hare hunting yields in adjoining hunting estates. We also analyzed the spatial patterns of and potential factors influencing hare roadkills. We detected the existence of black spots for hare roadkills in areas with high landscape heterogeneity that also included embankments and nearby crossroads and had high traffic intensity. Hare roadkill levels ranged from 5 to 25% of the annual harvest of hares killed on neighboring hunting estates. We suggest that road collisions should be considered in Iberian hare conservation in addition to hunting, since they may represent an additive source of mortality. Game managers should address the issue of hare roadkill in harvest planning to compensate for hare accidents, adjusting hunting quotas to account for this unnatural source of mortality. Our results suggest future directions for applied research in road ecology, including further work on demographic compensation and roadkill mitigation.

Indices of relative abundance are routinely used to monitor and manage wildlife, yet all indices contain observation error and have unknown relationships with true abundance. State-space models (SSM) allow estimation of observation error while concordance in trends among multiple indices from different sampling methods may reflect true trends in abundance. We used multiple decades of data from roadkill surveys, nocturnal spotlight surveys, and observations from hunters along with trapper harvest data for six mesopredators in Illinois, USA, to evaluate concordance (i.e., similarity in trend direction and magnitude) across count- and harvest-based indices, while controlling for observation error using Bayesian SSM. We assumed that increased concordance among trends from different sampling methods would increasingly mirror trends in true abundance. We observed positive trends for raccoon and coyote, negative trends for gray and red fox, and stable trends for skunk, consistent with spatiotemporal patterns of distribution and abundance of these species within midwestern USA. Concordance among count-based indices and harvest-based indices adjusted for temporal changes in trapper numbers was generally high. In contrast, total annual trapper harvest often showed discordance with other trends. Sampling variability was similar across methods but was highest across the shortest time series highlighting the importance of methodologically or analytically controlling for sampling variability. Our results suggest that concordant broad-scale (e.g., statewide) trends in index data may be best used for evaluating relatively general trends and using relatively drastic changes as justification for more in-depth studies.

Understanding species’ distribution, population trends, and the significance of threatening processes are central to the effective conservation and management of wildlife. The island state of Tasmania, Australia, is home to two of the three extant subspecies of common wombat Vombatus ursinus ursinus and V. u. tasmaniensis, both endemic to the state. We provide a comprehensive conservation assessment of both subspecies in Tasmania, providing information on distribution and habitat, population trends and incidence of roadkill. Wombats are widespread in Tasmania, occurring in most vegetation communities, but particularly in agricultural areas, dry eucalypt forests and woodlands, and grasslands. Wombat roadkills are widespread along most major roads, with the interaction of traffic speed and wombat density likely to be one of the main causes of wombat roadkill along roads with low traffic volume. Despite this, and other factors that impact wombats including sarcoptic mange and targeted culling, population indices from standardised spotlight surveys have increased by 2.6 times over the past 36 years for V. u. tasmaniensis on mainland Tasmania and by 4.2 times over the past 27 years for V. u. ursinus on Flinders Island. Based on IUCN criteria for distribution extent and population size and trends, neither subspecies qualifies for up-listing to Threatened. Nevertheless, because of risks to wombats (e.g. disease and roadkill) ongoing monitoring and research into effective mitigation is warranted.

Global road networks facilitate habitat modification and are integral to human expansion. Many animals, particularly scavengers, use roads as they provide a reliable source of food, such as carrion left after vehicle collisions. Tasmania is often cited as the ‘roadkill capital of Australia’, with the isolated offshore islands in the Bass Strait experiencing similar, if not higher, levels of roadkill. However, native mammalian predators on the islands are extirpated, meaning the remaining scavengers are likely to experience lower interference competition. In this study, we used a naturally occurring experiment to examine how the loss of mammalian carnivores within a community impacts roadside foraging behaviour by avian scavengers. We monitored the locations of roadkill and forest ravens Corvus tasmanicus, an abundant scavenger species, on eight road transects across the Tasmanian mainland (high scavenging competition) and the Bass Strait islands (low scavenging competition). We represented raven observations as one-dimensional point patterns, using hierarchical Bayesian models to investigate the dependence of raven spatial intensity on habitat, season, distance to roadkill and route location. We found that roadkill carcasses were a strong predictor of raven presence along road networks. The effect of roadkill was amplified on roads on the Bass Strait islands, where roadside carrion was a predictor of raven presence across the entire year. In contrast, ravens were more often associated with roadkill on Tasmanian mainland roads in the autumn, when other resources were low. This suggests that in the absence of competing mammalian scavengers, ravens choose to feed on roadside carrion throughout the year, even in seasons when other resources are available. This lack of competition could be disproportionately benefiting forest ravens, leading to augmented raven populations and changes to the vertebrate community structure. Our study provides evidence that scavengers modify their behaviour in response to reduced scavenger species diversity, potentially triggering trophic shifts and highlighting the importance of conserving or reintroducing carnivores within ecosystems.

Wildlife‐vehicle collisions (WVCs) are a major source of wildlife mortality and should affect regional wildlife diversity and abundance, yet most WVC studies are locally scaled. Here, we evaluated biogeographic diversity (i.e., species richness, effective diversity) and abundance of WVCs at state parks across the Florida peninsula to answer two questions aimed to help inform wildlife conservation efforts: which parks have greatest WVC diversity, and why? We processed and compiled 9,254 WVC survey records collected by Florida State Parks personnel at 42 parks during a decade (2005–2015). Data for birds (138 species), mammals (35 species), reptiles (64 species), and all taxa combined were analyzed for patterns among parks (for the first question) and for biogeographic, climatic, ecoregion, and anthropogenic predictors of those patterns (for the second). Predictors represented nonexclusive alternative a priori hypotheses and were evaluated by model comparison. Parks differed widely in WVC diversity and abundance; we identify “hot spot” parks where management may most effectively reduce WVCs. Biogeographic and anthropogenic hypotheses were supported, but climatic and ecoregion hypotheses were not. Models for overall diversity fit data better (R2s > 0.50) than did models for specific taxa (e.g., birds). Larger parks closer to Florida's highly populated Atlantic Coast and with greater park attendance and perhaps faster speeds on adjacent roads have more WVC diversity and numbers. Of these predictors, attendance and speed limits are manageable. Traffic management in and near‐identified “hot spot” parks in Florida can most effectively reduce WVC effects on wildlife populations and diversity amidst a growing human population.

Collision with vehicles is one of the main causes of death for many vertebrates; however, little is known about bat roadkill. Thus, in this study we described bat roadkill in an area of Neotropical savanna and evaluated factors potentially affecting its occurrence. We surveyed 114 km of roads on the margins of protected areas in the Brazilian Federal District for 5 years. We analysed bat roadkill on three types of roads (dirt roads, two-lane paved highways, and four-lane paved highways) and recorded distance from water and presence of artificial light. Bat roadkill was calculated for 2-km sections and analysed using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with the following independent variables: season, road type, presence of light, and distance from water. We used section nested within road as a random effect. We estimated a total of 4740 roadkilled bats and identified individuals from three families. Bat road casualties were more numerous in the rainy season and on four-lane highways, whereas proximity to water and presence of artificial light were not related to roadkill number. The higher roadkill rate during the rainy season may be explained by higher bat activity due to the increased availability of resources. Regarding the influence of road type, four-lane highways have the highest traffic volumes in the area and the highest speed limits, which are associated with higher roadkill rates. Bats represent the most diverse order of mammals in the Cerrado, where they provide many important ecological services, which need to be preserved.

We explore the effect of roads in animal mortality within the Biodiversity Hotspot with the highest number of endemic species of vertebrates on Earth, the Tropical Andes. Our objectives were to know which species are killed on roads in this particularly biodiversity‐rich area and how landscape composition and configuration influences roadkills. We systematically looked for roadkills along roads that border three protected areas in the Ecuadorian Andes. To evaluate our hypotheses, we used correlation, logistic regression, and GIS analyses. We surveyed a total of 7128 km and observed a roadkill rate of 6.24 (95% CI = 5.35–7.14) individuals per 100 km/day. Roadkills included poorly known endemic and endangered vertebrates; among them, one undescribed snake species of the genus Atractus. Most roadkills were by pastures, the dominant vegetation by roads in our study area. Roadkills were more likely to occur near bridges and were more frequent at greater distances from natural vegetation, towns, and rivers. We conclude that pastures and bridges may be functioning as ecological traps for small and poorly known vertebrates. Mitigation measures could include increasing road permeability to wildlife by constructing culverts in critical points where mortality is high, and the adaptation of areas beneath bridges for them to function effectively as wildlife underpasses. These measures should be complemented with fences to exclude vertebrates from roads in areas near wildlife passages and along pastures. We encourage the development of similar studies in biodiversity‐rich areas to inform mitigation measures that can be adapted to local conditions.

To evaluate the feasibility of reintroduction as a tool for conservation of the jaguarPanthera onca, we adapted the IUCN soft release protocol to reintroduce two jaguars in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. After being kept at rescue centres for 13 months, the jaguars were moved to a 1-ha enclosure with native vegetation on a 53,000 ha ranch in the Pantanal, where hunting is not allowed and prey is abundant. In the enclosure, the animals were fed with meat, dead animals (roadkill) and then, progressively, live wild prey. After 11 months, the jaguars were fitted with collars equipped with GPS/VHF (recording one location per hour) and accelerometers, and released in the same area. The animals established residence near the enclosure, with home ranges, movement parameters, daily activity patterns and prey consumption similar to that recorded in previous studies. Social interaction and reproduction indicated the reintroduction was successful, and that it can be a tool for the species' survival in areas where the jaguar population is in decline.

Land crabs are threatened by ocean sprawl even though they act as keystone consumers in coastal forest. Female land crabs must migrate to the sea annually to release larvae. However, they face the risk of road mortality which reduces ecological connectivity. We investigated the spawning migration rhythm and the roadkill of land crab. Migrating crabs and roadkilled crabs were recorded on coastal roads in South Korea from July 28 to August 27 in 2018. Female land crabs mainly released zoeae during spring tide. The number of roadkilled crabs also synchronized with migration peak. A majority (95%) of 739 roadkilled carcasses were female crabs. As a result, the female crabs accounted only 29.6% of the population which can lead to a population decline. The roadkill density was the highest in a residential area without cement guardrails. These results suggest the mitigation actions for land crab roadkill. Among them, prohibiting vehicular traffic between sunset and midnight during spring tides in the breeding season should increase the viability of the population.

Roadkill poses a significant threat to many wildlife species. To implement habitat management and conservation measures in protected areas, it is important to identify the factors related to roadki...

The number of reported collisions (i.e. strikes) between aircraft and wildlife is increasing globally, with consequences for personnel and passenger safety as well as for industry economics. These are important considerations for airport operators that are obliged to mitigate wildlife hazards at airfields. Incidents involving mammals account for approximately 3–10% of all recorded strikes. However, relatively little research has been conducted on mammal strikes with aircraft outside of the USA. We collate mammal strike data from six major national aviation authorities and a global aircraft database and review the available scientific and grey literature. We aim to identify which mammal families are involved in strike events and how widespread the issue is on a global scale. We also aim to demonstrate the importance of consistently recording strike instances in national databases. We identified 40 families that were involved in strike events in 47 countries. Reported mammal strike events have been increasing by up to 68% annually. Chiroptera (4 families) accounted for the greatest proportion of strikes in Australia; leporids and canids in Canada, Germany and the UK; and Chiroptera (5 families) and cervids in the USA. More mammals were struck during the landing phase of an aircraft's rotation than any other phase. Circa‐diel strike risk was greatest at dusk and circa‐annum strike risk was greatest during late summer, with some international variation. The total estimated cost of damage resulting from reported mammal strikes exceeded US$103 million in the USA alone, over 30 years. Mammal strikes represent a substantial risk in airfield environments. Monitoring of existing wild mammal populations is required to understand temporal trends in presence, abundance, and activity patterns and to inform management decisions. Increased and accurate reporting of strike events globally is needed to inform Wildlife Hazard Management Plans and support effective strike mitigation. La fréquence des collisions entre avions et animaux sauvages connait une augmentation constante à travers le monde, entrainant des conséquences pour la sécurité du personnel et des passagers ainsi que pour l'économie de l'industrie aéronautique. Il s'agit d’une considération importante pour les exploitants d'aéroports qui sont tenus d'atténuer les risques potentiels liés à la faune sauvage sur les terrains d'aviation. Les incidents impliquant des mammifères représentent environ 3 à 10 % des collisions enregistrées. Cependant, en dehors des États-Unis, relativement peu de recherches ont été menées sur les collisions entre mammifères et avions. Nous rassemblons les données sur les collisions avec des mammifères provenant de six directions nationales majeures de l’aviation civile ainsi que d'une base de données mondiale sur les aéronefs et compulsons l’ensemble de la littérature scientifique et grise disponible. Notre objectif est d’identifier les familles de mammifères impliquées dans les collisions et de déterminer l'ampleur du phénomène à l'échelle mondiale. Parallèlement, nous cherchons à démontrer l'importance de l’enregistrement systématique des cas de collisions dans les bases de données nationales. Nous avons identifié 40 familles de mammifères impliquées dans des collisions dans 47 pays, avec une forte augmentation des collisions signalées, pouvant aller jusqu'à 68% par an. Les chiroptères (4 familles) représentaient la plus grande proportion des collisions en Australie, au Canada, en Allemagne et au Royaume-Uni ce sont les léporidés et les canidés qui sont le plus souvent impliqués, et aux États-Unis, les chiroptères (5 familles) et les cervidés. Plus qu’à toute autre phase, c’est pendant la phase d'atterrissage que le nombre d’impacts le plus importants se produit. Au cours de la journée, le risque d'impact est le plus élevé au crepuscule et il connait un pic annuel à la fin de l'été et en automne, avec cependant quelques variations internationales. Sur une période de 30 ans, le coût estimé des dommages résultant des collisions signalées avec des mammifères dépasse les 103 millions de dollars US rien qu'aux États-Unis. Les collisions impliquant un mammifère représentent un risque environnemental élevé pour les aéroports, tant pour l’intégrité des avions que pour la sécurité des passagers. L’évaluation des populations de mammifères sauvages aux abords des aéroports est necessaire pour prédire les évolutions temporelles de présence, d'abondance et d’activité de ces populations. Les études permettent d'accompagner les opérateurs d’aéroports dans la prise de décision liées à la prévention des risques naturels. A l'échelle mondiale, il est nécessaire de disposer de rapports plus nombreux et plus détaillés sur les cas de collisions afin d’enrichir les stratégies de gestion des risques animaliers et de réduire efficacement le nombre de collisions.

Linear infrastructures (e.g., roads, railways, pipelines, and powerlines) pose a serious threat to wildlife, due to the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions (roadkills). The placement of mitigation measures, such as crossing structures, should consider species’ life cycles and ecological requirements. Such an assessment would require data collection over large areas, which may be possible by employing citizen science. In this study, we aimed to identify spatio-temporal trends of roadkill occurrence using citizen science data from one of the most urbanized and biodiversity-rich regions of Italy. Temporal trends were analyzed using generalized additive models, while landscape patterns were assessed by identifying significant thresholds over land cover gradients, related to increases in relative roadkill abundance, by employing threshold indicator taxa analysis. Our approach recorded a total of 529 roadkills, including 33 different species, comprising 13 mammal, 10 bird, 6 reptile, and 2 amphibian species. Statistical analysis indicated significant temporal trends for the red fox, the European hedgehog, the stone marten and the European badger, with peaks in roadkill occurrence between the winter and spring months. Relative roadkill abundance increased mostly in landscapes with anthropogenic land cover classes, such as complex cultivations, orchards, or urban surfaces. Our results allowed us to develop a map of potential roadkill risk that could assist in planning the placement of mitigation measures. Citizen science contributions from highly populated areas allowed data collection over a large area and a dense road network, and also directly led to the evaluation of management decisional options.

We present new records of Hoary Fox, Lycalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842), and Pantanal Cat, Leopardus braccatus Cope, 1889, from a Cerrado-Caatinga-Atlantic Forest ecotone, Brazil. Records are based on three roadkilled specimens (two Hoary Foxes and one Pantanal Cat) from Vitória da Conquista, southern Bahia. Although highly anthropized, the region still holds a mosaic of Cerrado savannas and Caatinga seasonally dry forests. Our records expand the distribution of both species eastwards to southern Bahia and suggest that Leopardus braccatus may occur marginally in the Caatinga.

Much of the roadkill of wild animals is accidental, but some drivers intentionally target animals, especially those that are culturally stigmatized such as reptiles and amphibians. We aimed to eval...

Road networks can negatively impact wildlife populations through habitat fragmentation, decreased landscape connectivity, and wildlife-vehicle collisions, thereby influencing the spatial ecology and population dynamics of imperiled species. The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a federally endangered wild felid in South Texas, with a high mortality rate linked to vehicle collisions. Using a multi-scale approach, we quantified and examined landscape spatial structure at ocelot roadkill locations, and between roadkill locations of male and female ocelots. We quantified the spatial distribution of land cover types at 26 ocelot–vehicle collision sites in South Texas that occurred from 1984–2017. We compared landscape metrics of woody, herbaceous, and bare ground cover types across multiple spatial scales at roadkill locations to those from random road locations, and between male and female ocelots. Roadkill sites consisted of 13–20% more woody cover than random locations. Woody patches at roadkill sites were 7.1–11% larger (2.4 ha) closer to roads and spaced 10–16 m closer together farther away from roads compared to random locations. Percent woody cover was the best indicator of ocelot–vehicle collision sites; there were no differences in woody cover between male and female road mortality locations. These findings suggest that ocelots are likely struck by vehicles while crossing between habitat patches. Roads that bisect areas of woody cover have negative impacts on ocelots by increasing habitat fragmentation and vulnerability to vehicle collisions. Crossing structures should be placed in areas with ≥ 30% woody cover and 3.5 ha woody patches.

Robust, spatially explicit approaches accounting for ecological drivers are needed to identify environmental correlates of roadkill and set conservation priorities. We predicted wildlife road mortality across a nationwide road network using species distribution models with environmental covariates. We applied MaxEnt to a citizen science database of > 60,000 roadkill records to predict roadkill probability. Twenty-eight environmental covariates at 50 m spatial resolution were included, such as road type and land cover composition. We focused on ecological guilds and endangered species: common venomous snakes (CVS), semiaquatic and aquatic snakes (SAS), turtles, and the Maki’s keelback snake (Hebius miyajimae, HM). All predictive models performed well with AUCs > 0.7. Projected roadkill risks for CVS, SAS, turtles, and HM were highest in montane regions, coastal lowlands, the southwestern coast, and parts of central Taiwan, respectively. Roadkill projection models performed well across ecological levels and scales. Road-type strongly influenced roadkill risk. As predictions and variable importance differed across guild and species models, individual models need to be produced for each group of interest. Additionally, the project emphasizes the importance of systematic collection of roadkill data, which contributes to both informing conservation action and engaging the public in wildlife education. We discovered novel findings on predicted high- and low-risk areas for groups with conservation need and produced interactive roadkill risk maps as a conservation tool for managers and practitioners. Importantly, this methodology is not limited to Taiwan; it can be applied anywhere with sufficient roadkill and environmental data and is scalable to address the ecological question of interest.

Ungulate–vehicle collisions pose a traffic safety issue as well as wildlife-conservation issues in many countries. While fences are recommended as reliable safety measures for motorways and other high-traffic volume roads, no generally accepted measures of the same efficiency are available for secondary roads. Odour repellents are applied in many central European countries, but contradictory results are available concerning their efficiency. We tested the effect of odour repellents on both a crossing frequency and the presence near roads of six individuals of roe deer over a period of five months (April–August 2019). The odour repellents were installed along two secondary roads, and along two semi-open habitats (forest–meadow and forest–arable land) alternately, in several phases. Two hypotheses were tested. The first one focused on the change in animal presence close to the profiles where the odours were applied, while the second hypothesis concerned a change in the number of crossings of the same profiles. The results demonstrate that no clear effect of odour repellents on roe deer behaviour in both hypotheses were obtained. Apart from the obtained results, we discuss the importance of the methodology. We conclude that this kind of study design is extremely sensitive to a number of factors with a potentially negative influence on the course of the study design.

We examined the spatiotemporal variation of herpetofauna roadkills on roadways in Langkawi Island. A total of 131 roadkills were recorded. The species that exhibited greater mortality was Varanus nebulosus (n=72). There was a significant difference in herpetofauna mortality between dry and wet seasons (t(11) =-2.330, p=0.04

A globally, extensive road network combined with increasing vehicular traffic poses a significant threat to local wildlife, environment, economy, and socio-politics. India, with nearly 5.9 million kilometers of road, has the second-highest road network in the world; and has plans to exponentially increase its national highways. In this study, we use a combination of collation of official documents, literature review, and GIS mapping to outline the possible environmental and socio-economic impacts caused by a proposed 6-lane national highway (NH 173). This highway is set to cut through the low elevation evergreen forests of the central Western Ghats between Mudigere and Nelliyadi towns of Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, of Karnataka State, respectively. We further outline the insignificance of the project and recommend workable alternatives that could be considered in the wider public’s interest.

The fragmentation of forests by agricultural expansion, urbanization, and road networks is an ongoing global biodiversity crisis. In Southeast Asia and other tropical regions, wildlife populations are being isolated into pockets of natural habitat surrounded by road networks and monoculture plantations. Mortality from wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) is contributing to a decline in many species of conservation priority in human‐modified landscapes. This study is the first in Malaysia to investigate factors affecting the occurrence of WVCs. We assessed roadkill data gathered by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks on small‐, medium‐, and large‐sized mammals in Peninsular Malaysia. We examined the relationship between wildlife road accidents and several environmental factors. We found a total of 605 roadkill animals, involving 21 species, which included three species classified as Endangered. Road type (plantation road or highway), year, and distance of the road from continuous and fragmented forests were significant in determining mammal mortality. Unexpectedly, the majority of road mortality occurred on palm oil plantation roads compared to highways. Mortality of small‐ and medium‐sized mammals was greater at locations further from continuous forest than those closer to fragmented forests. Segmentation of continuous forest by roads should be avoided wherever possible to reduce the threat of roads on crossing wildlife., Wildlife populations are being isolated into forest patches surrounded by roads. The majority of road mortality occurred on plantation roads compared to highways. Road type, altitude, and distance from forest were major drivers of mortality.

The highway infrastructures are a source of multiple environmental problems; one of the worst effects on wildlife is roadkill. Most of the research on roadkill has focused on how certain aspects, such as seasons, traffic density, and location of roadways, among others affect wildlife mortality on roads. However, little attention has been paid to understanding how the geometric design of roads affects wildlife mortality. On a highway in the Central Andes of Colombia, we investigated if the geometric design, specifically horizontal alignment and vertical curves of the road, influence the mortality of vertebrate animals on roadways. We determined the number of the straight lines, circular, transition curves, and vertical convex curves along the entire route of the highway (13.9 km), and from April 2018 to December 2019, we made 336 surveys in search of wildlife roadkill. We then investigated the relation of animal deaths to different road shapes. Out of 95 roadkill, reptile deaths made up 47% of the total. We found no dependence on the distribution of deaths by class of animals on the road shape; the shape in which most deaths occurred was a straight line (58 deaths). However, when the proportion of mortality events per meter was analysed on the shape units on the road, we found that circular and transition curves presented two and three times (respectively) a higher proportion of mortality events per meter than the straight lines. Roadkill hotspots were found in curved segments and were not associated only with riparian forest. The curved sections present more dangerous geometric designs than the straight lines for wildlife, regardless of their length on the road. Our research indicates that the relationship of the geometric design of roads needs to be considered in the development of management and conservation plans of altered ecosystems with the road infrastructure.

Mortality of animals on roads is a critical threat to many wildlife populations and is poised to increase strongly because of ongoing and planned road construction. If these new roads cannot be avoided, effective mitigation measures will be necessary to stop biodiversity decline. Fencing along roads effectively reduces roadkill and is often used in combination with wildlife passages. Because fencing the entire road is not always possible due to financial constraints, high-frequency roadkill areas are often identified to inform the placement of fencing. We devised an adaptive fence-implementation plan to prioritize road sections for fencing. In this framework, areas along roads of high, moderate, and low levels of animal mortality (respectively, roadkill hotspots, warmspots, and coldspots) are identified at multiple scales (i.e., in circles of different diameters [200-2000 m] in which mortality frequency is measured). Fence deployment is based on the relationship between the amount of fencing being added to the road, starting with the strongest roadkill hotspots, and potential reduction in road mortality (displayed in mortality-reduction graphs). We applied our approach to empirical and simulated spatial patterns of wildlife-vehicle collisions. The scale used for analysis affected the number and spatial extent of roadkill hot-, warm-, and coldspots. At fine scales (e.g., 200 m), more hotspots were identified than at coarse scales (e.g., 2000 m), but combined the fine-scale hotspots covered less road and less fencing was needed to reduce road mortality. However, many short fences may be less effective in practice due to a fence-end effect (i.e., animals moving around the fence more easily), resulting in a trade-off between few long and many short fences, which we call the FLOMS (few-long-or-many-short) fences trade-off. Thresholds in the mortality-reduction graphs occurred for some roadkill patterns, but not for others. Thresholds may be useful to consider when determining road-mitigation targets. The existence of thresholds at multiple scales and the FLOMS trade-off have important implications for biodiversity conservation.Un Plan Adaptativo para la Priorización de Secciones de Carretera para Cercar y Reducir la Mortalidad Animal Resumen La mortalidad de los animales en las carreteras es una amenaza muy importante para las poblaciones silvestres y se pronostica que aumentarán enérgicamente debido a la construcción continua y planeada de carreteras. Si estas nuevas carreteras no pueden evitarse, se necesitarán medidas efectivas de mitigación para detener la declinación de la biodiversidad. El cercado a lo largo de las carreteras reduce efectivamente los atropellamientos y se usa frecuentemente junto con los pasos de fauna. Ya que cercar por completo la carretera no siempre es posible debido a las restricciones financieras, es común identificar las áreas con una frecuencia alta de atropellamientos para que la colocación de cercas esté informada al respecto. Diseñamos un plan adaptativo de implementación de cercas para priorizar las secciones de carretera que requieren ser cercadas. En este marco de trabajo, identificamos las áreas a lo largo de las carreteras con un nivel alto, moderado y bajo de mortalidad animal (respectivamente, puntos calientes, cálidos y fríos de atropellamiento) a diferentes escalas (es decir, en círculos de diferentes diámetros [200-2000 m] dentro de los cuales se mide la frecuencia de la mortalidad). El despliegue de cercas está basado en la relación entre la cantidad de cercas que se van añadiendo a la carretera, iniciando en los puntos calientes de atropellamiento, y la reducción potencial de la mortalidad en la carretera (presentada en gráficas de reducción de la mortalidad). Aplicamos nuestra estrategia a los patrones espaciales empíricos y simulados de las colisiones entre vehículos y animales. La escala utilizada para el análisis afectó al número y a la extensión espacial de los puntos calientes, cálidos y fríos de los atropellamientos. A escalas finas (p. ej.: 200 m), se identificaron más puntos calientes que a escalas más amplias (p. ej.: 2000 m), pero combinadas las escalas finas, los puntos calientes cubrieron una superficie menor de la carretera y se necesitaron menos cercas para reducir la mortalidad. Sin embargo, muchas cercas cortas pueden ser menos efectivas en la práctica debido al efecto de fin de valla (es decir, que los animales se muevan alrededor de la cerca con mayor facilidad), lo que resulta en una compensación entre pocas cercas largas y muchas cercas cortas, que denominamos compensación de cercas FLOMS (pocas-largas-o-muchas-cortas). Los umbrales en las gráficas de reducción de la mortalidad se presentaron para algunos patrones de atropellamiento, pero no para otros. Los umbrales pueden ser útiles para considerar cuando se determinan los objetivos de mitigación para las carreteras. La existencia de los umbrales a escalas múltiples y la compensación de FLOMS tienen implicaciones importantes para la conservación de la biodiversidad.动物被路杀是许多野生动物种群面临的一项严重威胁。考虑到正在进行和计划实施的道路建设, 这一问题还将日益加剧。如果无法避免建设新道路, 就必须采取有效的缓解措施来阻止生物多样性下降。在道路两旁修建围栏可以有效减少路杀, 且经常与野生动物通道结合使用。由于资金限制, 通常不能沿整条道路设置围栏, 因此一般会找出路杀高发地段来为围栏的布设提供信息。我们设计了一个适应性的围栏建设实施计划, 来确定优先建设围栏的路段。在这个框架中, 我们在多尺度上 (即在 200-2000 米直径的圆内测量路杀死亡率) 确定了路杀频率高、中、低的道路沿线地区 (分别是路杀热点地区、暖点地区和冷点地区) 。围栏布设是基于道路上从路杀热点地区开始的增加围栏的数量, 与可能的路杀死亡率降低 (通过死亡率下降图来显示) 之间的关系。我们将该方法应用于野生动物-车辆撞击的经验和模拟空间模型中, 发现用于分析的尺度影响了路杀热点、暖点、冷点地区的数量和空间范围。在精细尺度下 (如 200 米) 比在粗糙尺度下 (如 2000 米) 能识别出更多热点地区, 但将精细尺度下的热点地区结合起来只覆盖了较少的道路, 为减少路杀而需要建设的围栏也较少。然而, 由于存在围栏末端效应 (即动物可以更轻易地绕过围栏) , 建设许多短围栏在实践中可能不够有效, 因此需要在少量长围栏和大量短围栏之间进行取舍, 我们称之为 FLOMS (few-long-or-many-short, 少量长围栏或大量短围栏) 的权衡。此外, 某些路杀模式的死亡率下降图中出现了阈值, 而其它模式则没有。在确定减缓路杀影响的目标时, 阈值可能有一定帮助。多尺度下的阈值存在和 FLOMS 权衡对生物多样性保护具有重要意义。【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】.

Conflicts between humans and animals have been a challenge due to rapid urbanization. Most of the forest is cleared to build roads and highway. Thus, animals need to migrate or move for their survival. This paper aims to review wildlife roadkill data from PERHILITAN and arranged it under several groups of species. Here, quantitative analysis of the roadkill data is used to select one species as the primary subject (Malayan Tapir). It has been observed that Malayan Tapir has involved in 68 vehicle collisions with a total loss of RM6.8 million in 5 years. From these results, long-term mitigation measures have been addressed in this study.Keywords: human; road construction; wildlife roadkill; mitigationeISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v5i13.2093

As rodovias tem sido apontadas como uma das principais causas antropicas que influenciam na mortalidade da fauna silvestre. Aqui, nos investigamos o efeito da paisagem sobre a comunidade de mamiferos atropelados em um trecho de 50 km da rodovia GO-164, sul de Goias, Brasil. Nos dividimos o trecho em 10 quadrantes de 25 km² cada (unidades amostrais), nos quais obtivemos a abundância, riqueza e composicao de mamiferos atropelados em resposta a dois preditores da paisagem: distância para o curso-d’agua e percentual de cobertura vegetal nativa. Encontramos que a riqueza de mamiferos atropelados e maior, quanto menor a distância para o curso-d’agua, e que a composicao da fauna de mamiferos atropelados e influenciada pelo percentual de cobertura de vegetacao nativa na paisagem. Concluimos que ha uma variacao espacial dirigida pelas caracteristicas da paisagem, que influenciam na ocorrencia de atropelamentos de mamiferos. EFFECTS OF LANDSCAPE ON ROADKILL OF MEDIUM AND LARGE-SIZED MAMMALS IN SOUTHERN GOIAS, BRAZIL. The highways have been identified as one of the main anthropogenic causes that influences the mortality of wildlife. Here, we investigated the effects of landscape structure on the roadkill mammal species in a section of 50-km of the highway GO-164, southern Goias, Brazil. We divided the section of 10 quadrants of 25 km² (sampling units), in which we measured abundance, richness, and species composition of roadkill mammals in response to two predictors of the landscape: distance to the river and percentage of habitat amount. We found that the richness of roadkill mammals is higher closer to the river and that roadkill mammalian species composition is affected by the habitat amount in the landscape. We conclude that there is a spatial variation driven by the landscape characteristics, which influences the occurrence of mammal roadkill.

Roadkill is a serious threat for many species of freshwater turtles. One of the most common road mitigation tools is wildlife warning signs to alert drivers. These warning signs have commonly been used for large mammals, although there is little evidence that they are effective in reducing roadkill. We tested the effectiveness of turtle warning signs at four known roadkill hotspots along a provincial highway in eastern Ontario and compared the results with four control sites on a nearby major road in a before-after-control-impact (BACI) study. We found 30 dead turtles in the four hotspots in 2017 before the signs were installed and 27 in 2018 after the signs were installed. The number of turtles killed on the road after the signs were installed did not change significantly (χ21 = 1.1, P > 0.2). Although turtle warning signs may alert some drivers, they should not be considered a replacement for more effective road mitigation tools, such as wildlife fencing and crossing structures.

Understand the spatial distribution of wildlife roadkill is necessary to design mitigation measures minimizing damage to the fauna and the human population. Thus, we aimed to analyze the spatial distribution of wildlife roadkill in the Brazilian savanna ("Cerrado") to test whether roadkill hotspots match between the studied animal groups. We collected data of wildlife roadkill over a year in the southwest region of the state of Goiás, Brazil. To understand the distribution of roadkill on highways and to identify the aggregation hotspots, we used the modified two-dimensional Ripley K test and the two-dimensional hotspot identification analysis. We detected that birds and mammals have different aggregation points. These points may vary when the two groups are analyzed together or when species with greater abundance are removed from the analyses. Hence, we concluded that using generalist approaches including several species, are not enough, and can lead to erroneous conclusions. Therefore, it is necessary that the analyses be done in groups.

Like all human action that changes ecosystems, roads contribute to habitat fragmentation, acting as barriers and, consequently, causing biodiversity loss. Given the need for studies related to road...

Background Roads have major ecological impacts on wildlife. Vehicle collisions most frequently impact large herbivores due to their larger home range compared to smaller animals, and higher population density compared to carnivores. Kangaroos (Macropus spp.) account for a large proportion of reported wildlife vehicle collisions that occur in N S W, Australia. We aimed to evaluate what influenced road mortality of eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) in a temperate rural/suburban region. The location of roadkilled kangaroos found on or near two 1 km stretches of road in Richmond NSW was recorded throughout 2014 and 2015. Weather and moon phase data were recorded for the date of each roadkilled kangaroo. Transects were setup on both roads, and multiple road and landscape features, including the width of roadside, fence construction, habitat type, and distance from street lights measured at 50 m intervals. Data were analyzed to explore which landscape features and temporal factors influenced the occurrence of a roadkill hotspot. Results More kangaroo road mortalities occurred during periods of low temperature and low rainfall, and these factors are likely to affect forage quality. Fewer mortalities occurred when rain was falling. A greater number of mortalities occurred during the waning gibbous phase of the lunar cycle. Significantly more road mortalities occurred a short distance from the end of a section of street lights. Conclusions The findings suggest that illumination influences the likelihood of kangaroo road mortalities. Large herbivores are particularly sensitive to habitat fragmentation because they need unrestricted access to large continuous habitat. Knowledge of factors that influence where and when kangaroos are most likely to cross roads can be used to inform more targeted management strategies and improve future road design and habitat connectivity to reduce the incidence of wildlife vehicle collisions.

The rise of the Panamanian Isthmus 3–4 million years ago enabled the first dispersal of mammals between North and South America in what is known as the Great American Biotic Interchange. Modern deforestation threatens the historic forest connectivity and creates new habitat for open-country species, as documented by recent expansions of North American coyotes (Canis latrans) and South American crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon thous) into Central America. We used camera traps to map the expansions of these species into eastern Panama and found that, by 2015, coyote populations had colonized most agricultural area west of Lago Bayano. Most of our camera arrays east of this point documented crab-eating foxes, and evidence from roadkills showed some foxes had advanced farther west, but we never documented both species at the same camera-trap array, suggesting the possibility of fine-scale spatial avoidance. We used a data fusion approach to build species distribution models combining our camera surveys with records from the literature and roadkill. While the auxiliary data improved the predictive accuracy for both species, few clear habitat patterns emerged, which might reflect the generalist tendencies of these canids, or the fact that both are in the early stages of colonizing the region. Camera-trap photos showed that both species were nocturnal and revealed some dog-like morphology in coyotes, which could indicate their recent hybridization with dogs (Canis familiaris). Our continued monitoring of the Darién documented single coyotes moving through the western edge of the area in 2016 and 2018. This leaves only the great Darién forests between coyotes and South America. If deforestation continues in the region, these two invasive canids could represent the first of a new, Not-So-Great American Biotic Interchange, where generalist species adapted to human disturbance cross continents and threaten native biota.

Lynx rufus (Bobcat) is a wide-ranging and highly adaptable predator whose populations are increasing throughout much of its natural range including in the New England states, yet there are only limited empirical ecological studies there. How Bobcats are responding to the unique modern landscape of southern New England with its highly forested landscape coupled with high density of humans is unknown. This lack of spatial and population ecological information impedes evaluating recovery and management objectives and identifying necessary management actions. Our objectives were to better understand the spatial and population structure of Bobcats in Rhode Island. We specifically examined space use, resource selection, and population genetics. We trapped Bobcats across 5 field seasons from April 2015 to March 2019, totaling 2232 trap nights. We captured 8 Bobcats, equipped GPS collars to a subset (n = 3), and collected locations for 4 to 9 months. We used GPS locations to estimate annual and seasonal home-range size and individual-level seasonal resource selection within the home range for each individual. Further, we used tissue samples collected from trapped individuals and opportunistically collected roadkill (n = 30) to examine the population genetic structure and effective population size of Bobcats in the state. We found the mean winter and summer home-range sizes were 219.3 km2 and 51.7 km2, respectively. Bobcats selected for forested wetland habitats and were associated with areas closer to wetlands and young forests, according to resource-selection models. They also selected for areas with higher road densities, yet avoided developed areas. We found that Bobcats in Rhode Island are part of 1 genetic population and estimated their effective population size to be 82 individuals (95% CI: 44–329). Our study highlights the importance of examining a widely distributed species at a local scale in order to employ evidence-based management practices.

Globally, traffic associated with roads that pass through protected areas are the cause of many negative impacts on wildlife, such as wildlife roadkill, which has occurred within the Serengeti ecosystem. A 200 km stretch of gravel road networks that passes through the Serengeti ecosystem was surveyed in 2015 for five consecutive days during each study period during the wet and dry seasons, between March and August 2015, to document the magnitude, patterns and composition of wildlife roadkill. We found a total of 51 wildlife roadkills that consisted of 26 species of wild animals and included 18 bird and 8 mammal species. Bird species (60.8%) were more frequently killed than mammal species (39.2%). Moreover, a higher incidence of wildlife roadkill was recorded in the morning (56.9%) than in the afternoon (43.1%) and more mammals (51.7%) than birds (48.3%) were recorded in the morning. Greater numbers of wildlife roadkill were recorded along road segments with good road conditions (69.4%) that were wider (>8 m) and with higher traffic volumes than along roads with poor conditions (30.6%). Overall, the Cape hare (Lepus capensis) was the most frequently killed species (17.6%) among the mammals, whereas the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) (13.7%) was most frequently killed among the avifauna. To reduce the number of roadkill incidents, we recommend changing driver speeding behaviours by installing wildlife-warning signage that consists of picture-based signs, because they have been proved to be more effective than word-based signs to reduce speeds and hence, reduce collisions. Additionally, the responsible management authorities should provide education to drivers on safe driving and enforcement of laws and regulations. Further, policy briefings that focus on wildlife roadkill should be made available to assist decision-makers and engineers to improve road design in protected areas.

BackgroundTo avoid the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, many countries have implemented strict lockdown measures for several weeks. In Austria, the lockdown in early spring has led to a significant drop in human outdoor activities, especially in road traffic. In Project Roadkill, a citizen science project which aims to collect data on road-killed animals, we observed a significant decrease in reported roadkills.MethodsBy asking the citizen scientists through a survey how their travelling routines were affected, we investigated if the observed decrease in roadkills was grounded in less animals being killed by traffic, or in citizen scientists staying at home and thus reporting less road-killed animals.ResultsA majority of the respondents stated that they felt to have reported less roadkills during the lockdown, regardless if they changed their travelling routine or not. This observation in combination with the overall decrease in road traffic indicates that fewer animals were killed during the lockdown. We conclude that when analyzing citizen science data, the effects of lockdown measures on reporting behaviour should be considered, because they can significantly affect data and interpretation of these data.

Simple Summary The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is a highly invasive species, therefore knowledge regarding the population size, trends and spatial distribution is important for species assessment and for the planning of control measures. In Lithuania, however, as such surveys would require the concerted action of many hunting clubs, raccoon dog surveys have not been carried out since 1997. In this study, we investigated whether roadkill data for the species could be used as a means for monitoring the population. For the period in which surveys were conducted, we found a strong correlation between the numbers surveyed and the numbers of animals hunted and between those hunted and the number of roadkills. Therefore, we consider that roadkill counts may be used as a proxy for a survey at the countrywide scale. Practical implementation of the method is proposed. Abstract The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is one of the most frequently killed species on Lithuanian roads. As an invasive species, up-to-date knowledge of population size, trends and spatial distribution is critically important both for species assessment and for the planning of control measures. In Lithuania, however, raccoon dog surveys have not been carried out since 1997. We investigated, therefore, whether roadkill counts on predefined routes could be used as a proxy for a survey. Our dataset includes survey numbers for the period 1956–1997, hunting bag sizes for 1965–2020 (including the spatial distribution of the hunting bag in 2018–2020) and roadkill data relating to 1551 individuals between 2002–2020. At the most local scale, that of the hunting areas of hunting clubs, correlations between the numbers of hunted and roadkilled individuals were negative and insignificant or absent. At the country scale, however, we found significant correlation both between the numbers surveyed and hunted in 1965–1997 (r = 0.88), and between those hunted and the number of roadkills in 2002–2020 (r = 0.56–0.69). Therefore, we consider that roadkill counts on predefined and stable routes may be used as a proxy for a survey at the country scale. Practical implementation of the method is proposed.

As Malaysia’s economy continues to grow, an ever-expanding road network is being built to support the new developments. Whilst roads increase accessibility to resources and connect human communities, they also bring with them a host of environmental problems such as destruction and fragmentation of habitat, poaching, pollution, and roadkills. Of these, roadkills are the most direct and visible impact of building roads, yet few dedicated studies have been conducted on the extent of roadkills and how to minimize them in Malaysia. In this study, we examined the species richness and abundance of vertebrate roadkills along eight one-km stretches (two in each habitat) of highways in Terengganu and Pahang across four habitat types: rainforest, oil palm plantation, subsistence agricultural land, and village. Each stretch of highway was surveyed by walking it six times between May to October 2017 for the Terengganu segments and May to October 2018 for the Pahang segments. A total of 305 roadkilled animals were recorded, consisting of at least 24 species. Three of these are protected by Malaysian law. The most common roadkilled animals were frogs (102 individuals) followed by birds (70 individuals), mammals (67 individuals) and reptiles (66 individuals). The highest number of roadkills were recorded in roads going through villages (112 individuals), followed by oil palm plantations (81 individuals), forests (65 individuals) and subsistence agricultural land (47 individuals). For every roadkill we also recorded the location’s specific habitat and landscape characteristics such as distance to the nearest fruit tree, tree, shrub, water body, human structure, and overhead cable. Most roadkills were found close to vegetation cover and water bodies. However, we found that roadkills decreased to near zero between 30 and 80 m from the nearest shrub or tree. Roadkills decreased over larger distances from the nearest water body, but in oil palm and village habitats, reducing water bodies within 20–50 m from a road would almost half the number of roadkills. We suggest that making changes to the structure and composition of roadside vegetation and other landscape features, such as thinning vegetation to discourage wildlife from gathering near roads, could significantly reduce the number of roadkills. Published version Our research was financially supported by The Rufford Foundation Grant for Nature Conservation, an IDEA WILD Equipment Grant, Skyrail Rainforest Foundation Research Grant and Animal Behavior Society Student Research Grant.

The global road network is rapidly growing associated with human economic development. This growth also entails a high toll for biodiversity, with several well-documented negative impacts on different species. However, there is still a great lack of knowledge about the effects of roads on the persistence of wildlife populations. Here, we aimed to summarize our current knowledge on this topic, based on systematic reviews. We found that only a small proportion of studies (8%) focused on the effects of roads on population persistence. Most of these studies were about large mammals and were performed in high-income countries. Furthermore, these works studied only 2% of those species identified by the IUCN Red List as threatened by roads. Overall, our results show that we are far from understanding how roads affect the long-term viability of wildlife populations inhabiting road-effect zones. Addressing this challenge will require modifying our conceptual perspective, from short-term to long-term studies, from single road sections to focusing the landscape scale, and strive to obtain empirical data to support sound analyses to assess how road impacts affect the survival of wildlife populations, namely with information required to perform approaches such as population viability analyses. We highlight some key studies from our reviews that have addressed this global conservation concern with population-oriented approaches.

Rabies lyssavirus (RABV) is enzootic in raccoons across the eastern United States. Intensive management of RABV by oral rabies vaccination (ORV) has prevented its spread westward and shown evidence of local elimination in raccoon populations of the northeastern US. The USDA, Wildlife Services, National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) collaborates with other agencies to implement broad-scale ORV and conducts extensive monitoring to measure the effectiveness of the management. Enhanced Rabies Surveillance (ERS) was initiated during 2005 and updated in 2016 to direct surveillance efforts toward higher-value specimens by assigning points to different methods of encountering specimens for collection (strange-acting, roadkill, surveillance-trapped, etc., specimen point values ranged from 1 to 15). We used the 2016–2019 data to re-evaluate the point values using a dynamic occupancy model. Additionally, we used ERS data from 2012–2015 and 2016–2019 to examine the impact that the point system had on surveillance data. Implementation of a point system increased positivity rates among specimens by 64%, indicating a substantial increase in the efficiency of the ERS to detect wildlife rabies. Our re-evaluation found that most points accurately reflect the value of the surveillance specimens. The notable exception was that samples from animals found dead were considerably more valuable for rabies detection than originally considered (original points = 5, new points = 20). This work demonstrates how specimen prioritization strategies can be used to refine and improve ERS in support of wildlife rabies management.

Humans have transformed most landscapes across the globe, forcing other species to adapt in order to persist in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes. Wide-ranging solitary species, such as wild felids, struggle particularly in such landscapes. Conservation planning and management for their long-term persistence critically depends on understanding what determine survival and what are the main mortality risks. We carried out the first study on annual survival and cause-specific mortality of the European wildcat with a large and unique dataset of 211 tracked individuals from 22 study areas across Europe. Furthermore, we tested the effect of environmental and human disturbance variables on the survival probability. Our results show that mortalities were mainly human-caused, with roadkill and poaching representing 57% and 22% of the total annual mortality, respectively. The annual survival probability of wildcat was 0.92 (95% CI = 0.87–0.98) for females and 0.84 (95% CI = 0.75–0.94) for males. Road density strongly impacted wildcat annual survival, whereby an increase in the road density of motorways and primary roads by 1 km/km2 in wildcat home-ranges increased mortality risk ninefold. Low-traffic roads, such as secondary and tertiary roads, did not significantly affect wildcat's annual survival. Our results deliver key input parameters for population viability analyses, provide planning-relevant information to maintain subcritical road densities in key wildcat habitats, and identify conditions under which wildcat-proof fences and wildlife crossing structures should be installed to decrease wildcat mortality., This research was funded by: the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of the mFund project “WilDa—Dynamic Wildlife–Vehicle Collision warning, using heterogeneous traffic, accident and environmental data as well as big data concepts” grant number 19F2014B; the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Research Grants, Short-Term Grants, 2020 (57507441); the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung (DeWiSt). The data from Cabañeros National Park were collected in the frame of the project OAPN 352/2011 funded by Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales. MM was supported by a research contract Ramón y Cajal from the MINECO (RYC-2015-19231). FDR was supported by a postdoctoral contract funded by the University of Málaga through the grants program “Ayudas para la Incorporación de Doctores del I Plan Propio de Investigación de la Universidad de Málaga (Call 2019)”. PM was supported by UIDB/50027/2020 with funding from FCT/MCTES through national funds.

Faunal mortality from roadkill has a negative impact on global biodiversity, and bats are among the roadkilled animals. In South America, the Atlantic Forest covers southeastern Brazil, a region which sustains a large bat diversity. In this biome, the Sooretama reserves are crossed by the federal highway BR-101, one of the busiest in Brazil. We analyzed bats roadkilled along the 25 km stretch of highway that crosses the Sooretama reserves. Data were collected between the years 2010 and 2015. In total, 773 individuals distributed among 47 bat species were roadkilled during this period. The insectivorous feeding guild was the most affected, accounting for 25 species and 74% of the recorded roadkill, and those flying in the open area were the most frequently roadkilled (41.9%). Bat mortality rates did not differ between months of the year. However, the relation between rainy days and roadkill was negative. Monitoring by foot was more efficient than by car for detection of bat carcasses. Radars with a speed limit below 60 km/h reduced the rates of roadkill. The diversity of deceased bats found in this study represents 40% of the known species in the Atlantic Forest, and is the largest among current studies of species killed on highways globally. The present study raises concerns about the high diversity and abundance of roadkilled insectivorous bats and the conservation of these animals in the Neotropical region.

Roads are expanding at an extremely high rate, and have a significant direct impact on biodiversity through wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC). This threat is well documented for the temperate regions of North America and Europe, but the information from the remaining countries is limited or scattered. To evaluate reproducibility and conservation value of current WVC data, we analyzed 308 peer-reviewed studies from 41 tropical and subtropical countries across 20 years and five languages, representing 2485 vertebrate species and 139,602 unique WVC events. Only 107 of these 2485 species have roads listed as a threat within the Threat Classification Scheme developed for the IUCN Red List. Study design mostly focused on mammals, and specifically on medium- to large-sized species. We also revealed a strong geographic bias towards South America, and primarily Brazil, while both Asia and Africa require more long-term standardized road mortality studies. Overall, we identified several reporting gaps in WVC studies that limit reproducibility and comparability. Our results highlight the need for standardized reporting within wildlife-vehicle collision studies, and the need for further research on a number of threatened species with potentially high road mortality rates.

Understanding when and where roadkill is most likely to occur is vital to reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions. However, little is known about how roadkill rates change through time and whether or not the key influences on roadkill also change. Understanding changes in roadkill will facilitate the best implementation of mitigation measures. We aimed to determine how roadkill rates have changed between two distinct time periods and assess whether the spatial and temporal drivers of roadkill rates may have changed: with a view to informing taxon-specific mitigation strategies. We assess the spatial and temporal factors that influence road mortalities in two periods (1998–1999 and 2014) at the same site for multiple taxa. Bi-weekly surveys were undertaken from February to May 1998 and 1999 and again from February to June 2014. In total 2479 individual roadkill were recorded throughout the surveys, with 1.59 roadkill per km per month in the 1990s, increasing to 2.39 per km per month in 2014. Roadkill rates increased primarily with road speed limit with mortalities peaking at moderate (60–80 km/h) speeds, however, the structural complexity of roadside vegetation influenced roadkill rates for some taxa but not others. We show that roadkill rates have changed through time with shifts in both the temporal and spatial influences on these roadkill rates. These changes are likely associated with changes in the abundance of taxa and increased vehicle traffic. The spatial and temporal drivers of roadkill rates were found to be taxon specific, and although mitigation measures exist, assessment of their efficacy remains a priority.

Wildlife-vehicle collisions are acknowledged as the leading source of vertebrate mortality worldwide. Here, we examined spatio-temporal patterns of mammal road mortality in three routes on a fragmented landscape in the Middle Magdalena Valley, Santander department, Colombia. We identified the species affected by road mortality, estimated the roadkill rates for each road segment, and identified roadkill hotspots related to multi-scale structural connectivity. During an eigth-month period, we recorded a total of 152 mammal roadkills of 12 native species. The roads with the highest roadkill rates were Departmental Route 01 (DR01) and National Route 66 (NR66), but roadkill aggregations corresponding to potential roadkill hotspots were only identified on the route DR01. These hotspots intersect with sections of the landscape with lower connectivity, suggesting that mammal species are forced to leave suitable habitats in response to habitat fragmentation, increasing the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions. Our results contribute to understanding spatio-temporal factors potentially promoting mammal roadkill events and offer a unique opportunity to designing effective mitigation measures that will work properly.

Roadkill is among the most severe and insidious causes of impoverishment of vertebrate populations. As large roadkill databases develop, inferences from roadkill data can inform landscape-scale studies with broad conservation aims. The Taiwan Roadkill Observation Network (TaiRON) is one of the largest roadkill databases, and we elucidated taxonomic, seasonal, and temporal trends of roadkill in Taiwan, as well as patterns of protected species roadkill. Notably, the study revealed that snakes were the largest proportion of all roadkill (35%) and 26% of snake roadkills were of protected species. Additionally, the top 23 species of a total 496 species ranked by roadkill abundance made up 50% of the observations. During winter, there were significantly fewer roadkill observations of bats, lizards, and snakes, but birds and mammals had fairly consistent roadkill across seasons. Additionally, 19% percent of the observations were of protected species. The staggering magnitude and extent of roadkill observations collected by TaiRON indicates a clear impact of roads of on Taiwan's vertebrate fauna. The patterns demonstrate that certain taxonomic groups are disproportionately killed on roads, and a small number of species account for most of the mortality. Additionally, certain seasons account for higher frequency of road kills, especially for ectothermic taxa. These are important insights, as this means that there are groups that are highly and disproportionately affected by roads. We hope this first synthesis of all data from TaiRON provides an understanding of the magnitude of roadkill in Taiwan to inform conservation action.

A necessary component of elimination programmes for wildlife disease is effective surveillance. The ability to distinguish between disease freedom and non‐detection can mean the difference between a successful elimination campaign and new epizootics. Understanding the contribution of different surveillance methods helps to optimize and better allocate effort and develop more effective surveillance programmes. We evaluated the probability of rabies virus elimination (disease freedom) in an enzootic area with active management using dynamic occupancy modelling of 10 years of raccoon rabies virus (RABV) surveillance data (2006–2015) collected from three states in the eastern United States. We estimated detection probability of RABV cases for each surveillance method (e.g. strange acting reports, roadkill, surveillance‐trapped animals, nuisance animals and public health samples) used by the USDA National Rabies Management Program. Strange acting, found dead and public health animals were the most likely to detect RABV when it was present, and generally detectability was higher in fall–winter compared to spring–summer. Found dead animals in fall–winter had the highest detection at 0.33 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.48). Nuisance animals had the lowest detection probabilities (~0.02). Areas with oral rabies vaccination (ORV) management had reduced occurrence probability compared to enzootic areas without ORV management. RABV occurrence was positively associated with deciduous and mixed forests and medium to high developed areas, which are also areas with higher raccoon (Procyon lotor) densities. By combining occupancy and detection estimates we can create a probability of elimination surface that can be updated seasonally to provide guidance on areas managed for wildlife disease. Synthesis and applications. Wildlife disease surveillance is often comprised of a combination of targeted and convenience‐based methods. Using a multi‐method analytical approach allows us to compare the relative strengths of these methods, providing guidance on resource allocation for surveillance actions. Applying this multi‐method approach in conjunction with dynamic occupancy analyses better informs management decisions by understanding ecological drivers of disease occurrence.