Tomas KUSTA, Michaela HOLA, Zdenek KEKEN, Milos JEZEK, Tomas ZİKA, Vlastimil HART

Deer on the railway line: spatiotemporal trends in mortality patterns of roe deer

Traffic-related mortality of free-ranging animals is among the most commonly observed human-wildlife conflicts. These conflicts pose serious threats to human safety as well as having great economic consequences. Although considerable attention has been paid to the role of roads in affecting free-ranging animals, the effects of railways have been less studied. Our study provides initial insights into the spatial and temporal variability of the roe deer-train collisions at 4 selected railway sections in the Czech Republic. Using data on 69 roe deer-train collisions collected during 2009, we tested the effects of railway section length, train frequency, relative abundance of roe deer, and time of year (by month) on collision probability. The number of roe deer-train collisions was influenced by train frequency (i.e. the higher the number of trains passing through individual study sections, the higher the number of collisions) and the time of the year (i.e. the highest number of collisions occurred in winter, particularly in February). Future research efforts should focus on describing roe deer behavior and movement patterns along the railways as well as the mortality factors related to the accidents. Such findings will help to identify hotspots of future accidents and to design suitable mitigation measures.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Key words: Animal-train collisions, traffic mortality, Czech Republic

Deer on the railway line: spatiotemporal trends in mortality patterns of roe deer

Keywords:

Key words: Animal-train collisions, traffic mortality, Czech Republic,

PDF

___

Apollonio M, Andersen R, Putman R (2010). European Ungulates and Their Management in the 21st Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ascensăo F, Clevenger A, Santos-Reis M, Urbano P, Jackson N (2013). Wildlife–vehicle collision mitigation: is partial fencing the answer? An agent-based model approach. Ecol Model 257: 36–
Baofa Y, Huyin H, Yili Z, Le Z, Wanhong W (2006). Influence of the Qinqhai-Tibetan railway and highway on the activities of wild animals. Acta Ecol Sin 26: 3917–3923.
Bartoš L, Kotrba R, Pintíř J (2010). Ungulates and their management in the Czech Republic. In: Apollonio M, Andersen R, Putman R, editors. European Ungulates and their Management in the 21st Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 243–262.
Belant JL (1995). Moose collisions with vehicles and trains in northeastern Minnesota. Alces 31: 1–8.
Bowman J, Ray JC, Magoun AJ, Johnson DS, Dawson FN (2010). Roads, logging, and the large-mammal community of an eastern Canadian boreal forest. Can J Zoolog 88: 454–467.
Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002). Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach. 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: Springer-Verlag.
Canters K, Piepers A, Hendriks-Heersma A (1997). Habitat fragmentation, infrastructure and the role of ecological engineering. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Habitat Fragmentation and Infrastructure; 17–21 September 1995; Maastricht, The Hague, Delft, the Netherlands: Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division.
Cederlund G, Ljungquist H, Markgren G, Stålfelt F (1980). Foods of moose and roe deer at Grimsö in central Sweden: results of rumen content analysis. Swe Wildlife Res 11: 169–247.
Červenı J (2009). Ottova encyklopedie Myslivost. Prague, Czech Republic: Ottovo nakladatelství (in Czech).
Child KN, Barry SP, Aitken DA (1991). Moose mortality on highways and railways in British Columbia. Alces 27: 41–49.
Danks ZD, Porter FP (2010). Temporal, spatial, and landscape habitat characteristics of moose-vehicle collisions in western Maine. J Wildlife Manage 74: 1229–1241.
Dussault C, Poulin M, Courtois R, Ouellet JP (2006). Temporal and spatial distribution of moose-vehicle accidents in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, Quebec, Canada. Wildlife Biol 12: 415–425.
Frair JL, Merrill EH, Beyer HL, Morales JM (2008). Thresholds in landscape connectivity and mortality risks in response to growing road networks. J Appl Ecol 45: 1504–1513.
González-Gallina A, Benítez-Badillo G, Rojas-Soto OR, HidalgoMihart MG (2013). The small, the forgotten and the dead: highway impact on vertebrates and its implications for mitigation strategies. Biodivers Conserv 22: 325–342.
Groot Bruinderink GWTA, Hazebroek E (1996). Ungulate traffic collisions in Europe. Conserv Biol 10: 1059–1067.
Gundersen H, Andreassen HP (1998). The risk of moose (Alces alces) collision: a predictive logistic model for moose-train accidents. Wildlife Biol 4: 103–110.
Haikonen H, Summala H (2001). Deer-vehicle crashes: extensive peak at 1 hour after sunset. Am J Prev Med 21: 209–213.
Havlín J (1987). On the importance of railway lines for the life of avifauna in agrocoenoses. Folia Zool 36: 345–358.
Hussain A, Armstrong JB, Brown DB, Hogland J (2007). Land-use pattern, urbanization, and deer-vehicle collisions in Alabama. Human-Wildlife Conﬂicts 1: 89–96.
Jankovskı M, Čech M (2008). Železniční doprava a fauna v okolí tratě. Živa 3: 136 (in Czech).
Joyce TL, Mahoney SP (2001). Spatial and temporal distributions of moose-vehicle collisions in Newfoundland. Wildlife Soc Bul 29: 281–291.
Kušta T, Ježek M, Keken Z (2011). Mortality of large mammals on railway tracks. Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica 42: 12–18.
Langbein J, Putman R (2005). Deer-vehicle collisions in Britain – a nationwide issue. Ecology and Environmental Management In Practice 47: 1–7.
Lavsund S, Sandegren F (1991). Moose-vehicle relations in Sweden: a review. Alces 27: 118–126.
Marchand PJ (1996). Life in the Cold: An Introduction to Winter Ecology. Hanover, NH, USA: University Press of New England.
Meisingset EL, Loe LE, Brejkum Ø, Moorter B, Mysterud A (2013). Red deer habitat selection and movements in relation to roads. J Wildlife Manage 77: 181–191.
Modafferi RD (1991). Train moose-kill in Alaska: characteristics and relationship with snowpack depth and moose distribution in lower Susitna Valley. Alces 27: 193–207.
Myers WL, Chang WY, Germaine SS, Vander Haegen WM, Owens TE (2008). An Analysis of Deer and Elk-Vehicle Collision Sites along State Highways in Washington State. Completion Report. Olympia, WA, USA: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Nielsen CK, Anderson RG, Grund MD (2003). Landscape inﬂuences on deer–vehicle accident areas in an urban environment. J Wildlife Manage 67:46–51.
Pokorny B (2006). Roe deer-vehicle collisions in Slovenia: situation, mitigation strategy and countermeasures. Vet Arhiv 76: 177– 1
Putman RJ, Staines BW (2003). Supplementary Feeding of Deer; A Review of Direct and Indirect Supplementary Feeding of Red Deer in Scotland: Reasons for Feeding, Feeding Practice and Effectiveness. Report to the Deer Commission for Scotland, Inverness.
Rea RV, Child KN, Spata DP, MacDonald D (2010). Road and rail side vegetation management implications of habitat use by moose relative to brush cutting season. Environ Manage 46: 101–109.
Redpath SM, Young J, Evely A, Adams WM, Sutherland WJ, Whitehouse A, Amar A, Lambert RA, Linnell JDC, Watt A et al. (2013). Understanding and managing conservation conflicts. Trends Ecol Evol 28: 100–109.
Rolandsen CM, Solberg EJ, Van Moorter B, Sæther BE (2011). Largescale spatiotemporal variation in road mortality of moose: is it all about population density? Ecosphere 2: 113.
Seiler A (2003). The toll of the automobile: wildlife and roads in Sweden. PhD, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Seiler A (2004). Trends and spatial patterns in ungulate-vehicle collisions in Sweden. Wildlife Biol 10: 301–313.
Trombulak SC, Frisell CA (2000). Review of ecological effects of roads on terrestrial and aquatic communities. Conserv Biol 14: 18–
Van der Grift EA (1999). Mammals and railroads: impacts and management implications. Lutra 42: 77–98.
Zuur AF, Ieno EN, Walker N, Saveliev AA, Smith GM (2009). Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R. New York, NY, USA: Springer.