Sustainable Landscape Planning to Mitigate Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions

Ancuta Fedorca,Ramon Jurj,Georgeta Ionescu,Ovidiu Ionescu,Mihai Fedorca,Marius Popa

doi:10.3390/land10070737

Abstract

Road development, traffic intensification, and collisions with wildlife represent a danger both for road safety and species conservation. For planners, deciding which mitigation methods to apply is often problematic. Through a kernel density estimate, we analyzed 715 crossing locations and wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) involving brown bears, lynx, wolf, red deer, roe deer, and wild boar in the Southeastern Carpathian Mountains. We identified 25 WVC hotspots, of which eight require urgent mitigation of existing infrastructure. Moreover, many of these hotspots are in Natura 2000 sites, along road sections where vegetation is in close proximity, animal movement is the highest, and driver visibility is low. Our study is the first in Romania to recommend practical solutions to remediate WVC hotspots and benefit sustainable landscape management.

Highlights

Natural populations and habitats are affected by roads in numerous ways, such as wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs), gene flow restrictions, and decreased landscape connectivity [1,2], especially in combination with habitat loss and land-use changes [3]
Our study is the first in Romania to report on wildlife collision hotspots involving multiple species and suggests practical local solutions for ensuring the safety of both drivers and animals, and directly benefitting landscape planning and sustainable landscape management
The WVC hotspots identified in the four case studies require immediate action to stop animal fatalities

Summary

Introduction

Natural populations and habitats are affected by roads in numerous ways, such as wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs), gene flow restrictions, and decreased landscape connectivity [1,2], especially in combination with habitat loss and land-use changes [3]. The frequency of wildlife–vehicle collisions is likely to increase as road networks and traffic volume continue to expand [4,5]. Species diversity and abundance near roads decrease with increasing traffic volume [6,7]. Many studies over time found that WVCs were not random but spatially clustered [8,9], and their probability was mainly predicated on accident datasets [10,11], wildlife movement data [12], expert opinion, literature-based model [13], or landscape-based approaches for delineating hotspots [14]. Other methods have applied clustering approaches [15,16] or assessed roads based on segments of equal length, with WVC data aggregated later [17,18]. The driving forces behind mitigation efforts were human safety and economics [20,21]

Methods

Results

Conclusion