Bélanger-Smith, Katrina (2014) Evaluating the effects of wildlife exclusion fencing on road mortality for medium-sized and small mammals along Quebec’s Route 175. Masters thesis, Concordia University.
Preview |
Text (application/pdf)
1MBBelanger-Smith_MSc_S2015.pdf - Accepted Version |
Abstract
Increasingly, transportation agencies are implementing mitigation measures with the aim of alleviating the negative effects of roads on wildlife. Few studies have examined the responses of medium-sized and small mammals to these mitigation measures. Route 175 between Quebec City and Saguenay was widened from two to four lanes and in conjunction wildlife passages and associated exclusion fencing designated for medium-sized and small mammals were implemented. We surveyed mammal mortality along a 68 km section of Route 175 to address two research questions: (1) Do passages in combination with exclusion fences reduce road mortality? and (2) Are small-meshed fences effective in guiding animals towards the passages or do they displace road mortality to fence-ends? Daily mortality surveys were conducted between June and October 2012 and 2013, detecting 528 road mortalities comprising 18 species or taxonomic groupings. There was no statistically significant reduction in wildlife vehicle collisions (WVCs) with the existing exclusion fencing design. Additionally, WVCs occurred at a higher rate at fence-ends than in unfenced road segments for all medium-sized mammals grouped and for red fox. Habitat variables were found to influence the locations of WVCs, however these effects are highly species-specific. We recommend the implementation of species appropriate exclusion fencing to better guide animals towards wildlife passages. Species morphology, behavior, and daily movement range should be considered in the construction of exclusion fencing.
| Divisions: | Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Biology |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
| Authors: | Bélanger-Smith, Katrina |
| Institution: | Concordia University |
| Degree Name: | M. Sc. |
| Program: | Biology |
| Date: | December 2014 |
| Thesis Supervisor(s): | Jaeger, Jochen A.G. and Clevenger, Anthony P. |
| Keywords: | Road ecology; Road-kill; Mitigation measures; Exclusion fencing; Medium-sized mammals; Small mammals |
| ID Code: | 979605 |
| Deposited By: | KATRINA BELANGER-SMITH |
| Deposited On: | 13 Jul 2015 16:00 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2018 17:49 |
References:
Akaike, H., 1973. Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihoodprinciple. 2nd International Symposium on Information Theory Budapest (B. N.
Petrov and F. Cztiki, eds), 267-281.
Antworth, R. L., D.A. Pike, & E.E. Stevens, 2005. Hit and run: effects of scavenging on estimates of roadkilled vertebrates. Southeastern Naturalist, 4(4): 647-656.
Armitage, K. B. (2003). Marmots, In: G. A. Feldhamer, B. C. Thompson and J. A. Chapman (eds.). Wild mammals of North America: biology, conservation, and management. Second edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. p. 188–210.
Barrientos, R., and L. Bolonio, 2009. The presence of rabbits adjacent to roads increases polecat road mortality. Biodiversity and conservation, 18(2): 405-418.
Bartmann, R. M., G. C.White, and L. H. Carpenter, 1992. Compensatory mortality in a Colorado mule deer population. Wildlife Monographs, 3-39.
Beckmann, J.P., A.P. Clevenger, M.P. Huijser, and J.A. Hilty, (Eds.) 2010. Safe passages: Highways, wildlife, and habitat connectivity. Washington: Island Press.
Bédard, Y. 2012. La réfection de l'axe routier 73/175: son histoire, son déroulement et ses enjeux sociaux et écologiques. Le Naturaliste Canadien:Volume 136(2) : 3-7.
Bédard,Y., É. Alain, Y. Leblanc, M-A. Poulin and M. Morin. 2012. Conception et suivi des passages à petite faune sous la route 175 dans la réserve faunique des Laurentides. Le Naturaliste Canadien:Volume 136(2): 66-71.
Bédard,Y. and D. Trottier. 2009. Dossier de candidature au prix de réalisation environnementale 2008 soumis à l’Association des transports du Canada. Prolongement de l’autoroute Robert-Bourassa en boulevard urbain à Québec.
Un défi d’intégration environnementale. Ministère des Transports Gouvernement du Québec. http://conf.tacatc.ca/english/resourcecentre/readingroom/conference/
conf2009/pdf/mtq-bourassa-f.pdf
Bellamy, P. E., R.F. Shore, D. Ardeshir, J.R. Treweek, and T.H. Sparks, 2000. Road verges as habitat for small mammals in Britain. Mammal Review, 30(2): 131-139.
Beier, P., and R. F. Noss, 1998. Do habitat corridors provide connectivity? Conservation Biology, 12(6): 1241-1252.
Bissonette, J. A., and S. A. Rosa, 2009. Road zone effects in small-mammal communities. Ecology and Society 14(1): 27.
Bond, A. R., and D.N. Jones, 2008. Temporal trends in use of fauna-friendly underpasses and overpasses. Wildlife Research, 35(2): 103-112.
Boves, T. J. and J.R. Belthoff, 2012. Roadway mortality of barn owls in Idaho, USA. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 76: 1381–1392.
Brauner, N., and M. Shacham, 1998. Role of range and precision of the independent variable in regression of data. American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal. 44: 603-611.
Carr, L. W., and L. Fahrig, 2001. Effect of road traffic on two amphibian species of differing vagility. Conservation Biology, 15(4): 1071-1078.
Carsignol, J., 2005. Aménagements et mesures pour la petite faune : guide technique,
Bagneux, SETRA. (en français.)
Cavallaro, L., 2005. Designing road crossings for safe wildlife passage: Ventura County Guidelines (Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of California,Santa Barbara).
Cheveau, M., P. Drapeau, L. Imbeau,, and Y. Bergeron, 2004. Owl winter irruptions as an indicator of small mammal population cycles in the boreal forest of eastern North America. Oikos, 107(1), 190-198.
Clarke, G. P., P.C. White and S. Harris. 1998. Effects of roads on badger (Meles meles)
populations in south-west England. Biological conservation, 86(2): 117-124.
Clevenger, A.P. & M.P. Huijser. 2011. Wildlife Crossing Structure Handbook, Design and Evaluation in North America, Publication No. FHWA-CFL/TD-11-003. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Washington D.C., USA
Clevenger, A. P., 2005. Conservation value of wildlife crossings: measures of performance and research directions. Gaia-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 14(2): 124-129.
Clevenger, A. P., and N. Waltho, 2005. Performance indices to identify attributes of highway crossing structures facilitating movement of large mammals. Biological conservation, 121(3): 453-464.
Clevenger, A. P., and N. Waltho. 2003. Long-term, year-round monitoring of wildlife crossing structures and the importance of temporal and spatial variability in performance studies. In: Irwin, C.L., Garret, P., McDermott, K.P.M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation. Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, pp. 293–302.
Clevenger, A. P., B. Chruszcz, and K.E. Gunson, 2003. Spatial patterns and factors influencing small vertebrate fauna road-kill aggregations. Biological conservation, 109(1): 15-26.
Clevenger, A.P., B. Chruszcz, and K. E. Gunson, 2001a. Highway mitigation fencing reduces wildlife-vehicle collisions. Wildlife Society Bulletin , 29(2): 646–653
Clevenger, A.P., B. Chruszcz and K. Gunson, 2001b. Drainage culverts as habitat linkages and factors affecting passage by mammals. Journal of Applied Ecology, 38: 1340–1349.
Coleman, J. S., and J. D. Fraser. 1989. Habitat use and home ranges of black and turkey vultures. Journal of Wildlife Management 53:782–792.
Colino-Rabanal, V. J., M. Lizana, and S.J. Peris, 2011. Factors influencing wolf (Canis lupus) roadkills in Northwest Spain. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 57(3): 399-409.
Cramer P.C., and J.A. Bissonette, 2006. Wildlife crossings in North America: the state of the science and practice. IN: Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, Eds. Irwin CL, Garrett P, McDermott KP. Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC: 442-447.
Dodd Jr., K., W.J. Barichivich, and L.L. Smith, 2004. Effectiveness of a barrier wall and culverts in reducing wildlife mortality on a heavily traveled highway in Florida. Biological Conservation, 118(5): 619-631.
Donaldson, B.M., 2005. Use of highway underpasses by large mammals and other
wildlife in Virginia and factors influencing their effectiveness. In: Proceedings
of the International Conference of Ecology and Transportation, San Diego, CA,
pp. 433–441.
Dussault, C., M. Poulin, R. Courtois, and J-P. Ouellet, 2006. Temporal and spaitial distribution of moose-vehicle accidents in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, Quebec, Canada.Wildlife Biology. 12:415-425.
Eberhardt, E., S. Mitchell, and L. Fahrig, 2013. Road kill hotspots do not effectively indicate mitigation locations when past road kill has depressed populations. The Journal of Wildlife Management 77(7): 1353-1359.
ESRI, 2014. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.2. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute.
Fahrig, L., and T. Rytwinski, 2009. Effects of roads on animal abundance: an empirical review and synthesis. Ecology and Society 14(1): 21.
Ferron, J., and J.P. Ouellet, 1992. Daily partitioning of summer habitat and use of space by the snowshoe hare in southern boreal forest. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 70(11): 2178-2183.
Ford, A. T., & Fahrig, L. 2008. Movement patterns of eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) near roads. Journal of Mammalogy, 89(4): 895-903.
Forman, R. T. T., D. Sperling, J. A. Bissonette, A. P. Clevenger, C. D. Cutshall, V. H. Dale, L. Fahrig, R. France, C. R. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. A. Jones, F. J. Swanson, T. Turrentine, and T. C. Winter, 2003. Road Ecology. Science and Solutions. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
Forman, R. T., 2000. Estimate of the area affected ecologically by the road system in the United States. Conservation Biology, 14(1): 31-35.
Forman, R. T., and L.E. Alexander, 1998. Roads and their major ecological effects. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 29: 207-231.
Foster, M. L., and S.R. Humphrey, 1995. Use of highway underpasses by Florida panthers and other wildlife. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 95-100.
Fox, J. and S. Weisberg, 2011. An {R} Companion to Applied Regression, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
Gagnon, J. W., N.L. Dodd, K.S. Ogren, and R.E. Schweinsburg, 2011. Factors associated with use of wildlife underpasses and importance of long-term monitoring. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 75(6): 1477-1487.
Gleeson, J. and D. Gleeson, 2012. Reducing the Impacts of Development on Wildlife. Melbourne, Australia: Csiro Publishing.
Glista, D. J., T.L. DeVault, and J.A. DeWoody, 2009. A review of mitigation measures for reducing wildlife mortality on roadways. Landscape and Urban Planning 91(1): 1-7.
Glista, D. J., T.L. DeVault, and J.A. DeWoody, 2008. Vertebrate road mortality predominantly impacts amphibians. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 3(1): 77-87.
Gloyne, C. C., and A.P. Clevenger, 2001. Cougar (Puma concolor) use of wildlife crossing structures on the Trans-Canada highway in Banff National Park, Alberta. Wildlife Biology, 7(2): 117-124.
González-Gallina, A., G. Benítez-Badillo, O.R. Rojas-Soto, and M.G. Hidalgo-Mihart, 2013. The small, the forgotten and the dead: highway impact on vertebrates and its implications for mitigation strategies. Biodiversity and Conservation, 22(2): 325-342.
Grilo, C., J. Sousa, F. Ascensão, H. Matos, I. Leitão, P. Pinheiro, and E. Revilla, 2012. Individual spatial responses towards roads: implications for mortality risk. PloS one, 7(9): e43811.
Grilo, C., J.A. Bissonette, and P.C. Cramer, 2010. Mitigation measures to reduce impacts on biodiversity. In: S.R. Jones (ed.). Highways: Construction, Management, and Maintenance. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY. pp. 73- 114.
Grilo, C., J.A. Bissonette, and M. Santos-Reis, 2009. Spatial–temporal patterns in Mediterranean carnivore road casualties: Consequences for mitigation. Biological Conservation, 142(2): 301-313.
Grilo, C., J.A. Bissonette, J. A., & M. Santos-Reis, 2008. Response of carnivores to existing highway culverts and underpasses: implications for road planning and mitigation. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17(7): 1685-1699.
Guinard, É., R. Julliard, and C. Barbraud, 2012. Motorways and bird traffic casualties: Carcasses surveys and scavenging bias. Biological Conservation, 147(1): 40-51.
Guisan, A., T.C. Edwards, Jr., and T. Hastie, 2002. Generalized linear and generalized additive models in studies of species distribution: setting the scene. Ecological Modelling. 157:89-100.
Gunson, K. E., G. Mountrakis, and L.J. Quackenbush, 2011. Spatial wildlife-vehicle collision models: A review of current work and its application to transportation mitigation projects. Journal of Environmental Management, 92(4): 1074-1082.
Guter, A., A. Dolev, D. Saltz, and N. Kronfeld-Schor, 2005. Temporal and spatial influences on road mortality in otters: conservation implications. Israel Journal of Zoology, 51(3): 199-207.
Hellgren, E. C., and T.J. Polnaszek, 2011. Survival, Habitat Selection, and Body Condition of the Woodchuck (Marmota monax) across an Urban-Rural Gradient. The American Midland Naturalist, 165(1): 150-161.
Hels, T., and E. Buchwald. 2001. The effect of road kills on amphibian populations. Biological Conservation, 99(3): 331-340.
Hothorn, T., F. Bretz and P. Westfall, 2008. Simultaneous Inference in General Parametric Models. Biometrical Journal 50(3): 346--363.
IDRE. 2014. R Data Analysis Examples: Poisson Regression. UCLA: Statistical Consulting Group. from http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/r/dae/poissonreg.htm (accessed August 1, 2014).
Iuell, B., G.J. Bekker, G.J. (Hans)., R. Cuperus, J. Dufek, G. Fry, C. Hicks, V. Hlavác, V. Keller, B. Le Maire Wandall, C. Rosell, T. Sangwine, N. Törsløv, 2003. Wildlife and traffic: a European handbook for identifying conflicts and designing solutions. Prepared by COST 341 - Habitat fragmentation due to transportation infrastructure.
Jackson, N. D., and L. Fahrig. 2011. Relative effects of road mortality and decreased connectivity on population genetic diversity. Biological Conservation, 144(12): 3143-3148.
Jackson, S.D. and C.R. Griffin, 2000. A Strategy for Mitigating Highway Impacts on Wildlife. Pp. 143- 159 In Messmer, T.A. and B. West, (eds) Wildlife and Highways: Seeking Solutions to an Ecological and Socio-economic Dilemma. The Wildlife Society.
Jaeger, J. A. G., J. Bowman, J. Brennan, L. Fahrig, D. Bert, J. Bouchard, N. Charbonneau, K. Frank, B. Gruber, and K. T. von Toschanowitz, 2005. Predicting when animal populations are at risk from roads: an interactive model of road avoidance behavior. Ecological Modelling 185:329–348.
Jaeger, J. A. G., and L. Fahrig, 2004. Effects of road fencing on population persistence. Conservation Biology 18:1651–1657.
Johnson, D. H.,1999. The insignificance of statistical significance testing. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 763-772.
Jones, M. E., 2000. Road upgrade, road mortality and remedial measures: impacts on a population of eastern quolls and Tasmanian devils. Wildlife Research 27(3): 289 – 296.
Klar, N., M. Herrmann, and S. Kramer-Schadt, 2009. Effects and mitigation of road impacts on individual movement behavior of wildcats. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 73(5): 631-638.
Kociolek, A.V., A.P. Clevenger, C.C. St Clair, and D.S. Proppe, 2011. Effects of road networks on bird populations. Conservation Biology. 25(2):241-249.
Larivière, S., and F. Messier, 2000. Habitat selection and use of edges by striped skunks in the Canadian prairies. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 78(3): 366-372.
Lesbarrères, D., & L. Fahrig, 2012. Measures to reduce population fragmentation by roads: what has worked and how do we know? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(7): 374-380.
Mata, C., I. Hervás, J. Herranz, F. Suárez, and J.E. Malo, 2008. Are motorway wildlife passages worth building? Vertebrate use of road-crossing structures on a Spanish motorway. Journal of Environmental Management, 88(3): 407-415.
Mazerolle, M. J. 2013. Package 'AICcmodavg'. The R Project for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Mazerolle, M. J. 2006. Improving data analysis in herpetology: using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to assess the strength of biological hypotheses. Amphibia Reptilia, 27(2), 169-180.
McCollister, M. F., and F.T. Manen, 2010. Effectiveness of Wildlife Underpasses and Fencing to Reduce Wildlife‐Vehicle Collisions. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 74(8): 1722-1731.
McCullough, P. and Nelder, J. A. (1989). Generalized linear models. Chapman and Hall.
McDonald W. and C.C. St.Clair, 2004. Elements that promote highway crossing structure use by small mammals in Banff National Park. Journal of Applied Ecology, 41(1): 82–93
Møller, A., & M.D. Jennions, 2002. How much variance can be explained by ecologists and evolutionary biologists? Oecologia, 132(4): 492-500.
Morand, S., B. R. Krasnov, and R. Poulin, 2006. Micromammals and Macroparasites: From Evolutionary Ecology to Management. Tokyo: Springer.
Morin,P., D. Berteaux, and I. Klvana, 2005. Hierarchical habitat selection by North American porcupines in southern boreal forest. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 83: 1333–1342.
Munguira, M. L., and J.A. Thomas, 1992. Use of road verges by butterfly and burnet populations, and the effect of roads on adult dispersal and mortality. Journal of Applied Ecology, 316-329.
Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP), 2013. Norme de stratification écoforestière: Quatrième inventaire écoforestier du Québec méridional. Ministère des Ressources naturelles Secteur des forêts. Octobre 2008, réédition – Mai 2013. Gouvernement du Québec
Nagelkerke, N. J. D., 1991. A note on a general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrika, 78: 691-692.
Nakagawa, S., and I.C. Cuthill, 2007. Effect size, confidence interval and statistical significance: a practical guide for biologists. Biological Reviews, 82(4): 591-605.
Ng, S. J., J.W. Dole, R. M. Sauvajot, S.P. Riley, and T.J. Valone, 2004. Use of highway undercrossings by wildlife in southern California. Biological Conservation, 115(3): 499-507.
Niemi, M., N.C. Jääskeläinen, P. Nummi, T. Mäkelä, and K. Norrdahl, 2014. Dry paths effectively reduce road mortality of small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrat
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.
Repository Staff Only: item control page
Download Statistics
Download Statistics