Roadkill of medium to large mammals along a Brazilian road (BR-262) in Southeastern Brazil: spatial distribution and seasonal variation

Abstract

ABSTRACT 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 roadkill of wild animals, especially in the Atlantic Forest, and the vulnerability of mammal species to roadkill on the roads, we analyzed roadkill data of medium and large mammals. The study was carried out in a 100 km stretch of the BR-262 road, Atlantic Forest biome, in the Espírito Santo state. We obtained roadkill mammals’ carcasses by 42 monitoring campaigns, between January 2017 and January 2018. We recorded 259 carcasses of 22 species, which resulted in a roadkill rate of 0.062 mammal/km/day. We found that roadkill rates are higher in rainy months and lower in dry ones. We found support that three variables best predicted roadkill occurrence in the BR-262 road (i.e. positive relationship with forest cover, and accumulated precipitation ‘rainfall’, and negative relationship with speed reducers). These results indicate an alarming impact on the mammalian fauna at the site and reinforce the need for management measures and actions to reduce the mortality of wild mammals on the roads.