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Wildlife-vehicle collisions in Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve

Wildlife-vehicle collisions in Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve

The Canary Islands are an important tourist destination due to their unique climate and rich scenery and biodiversity. During the last few decades, there has been significant development of urban areas and busy road networks. However, there have been no studies describing the effects of road mortality on wildlife in this archipelago. The temporal and spatial patterns of wildlife roadkill in Lanzarote (UNESCO Biosphere Reserve) is described using counts from cars for an entire annual cycle. A total of 666 roadkills were recorded (monthly average of 0.09 birds/km and 0.14 mammals/km) comprising at least 37 species including native birds and introduced mammals. Seasonal abundance, richness and diversity of roadkills showed a high peak during summer months for both mammals and birds. Results highlight that roads are a potential threat to native birds in the eastern Canary Islands. Detailed studies on the local population dynamics of highly affected species are urgently needed to determine whether these levels of road mortality are sustainable. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es Tejera et al (2018) Wildlife-vehicle collisions in Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve, Canary Islands. PLoS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192731


http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192731