Predicting Wildlife Movement Associated with Road and Highway Systems

Wildlife-vehicle collisions are economic, safety, and ecological costs of transportation systems. Although understanding of the reasons that collisions occur is increasing, for most road and highway systems in California and elsewhere, the proximate causes and contributing environmental and other factors are unknown. Most contemporary research points to the importance of existing road and highway systems in reducing habitat quality and imperiling species. Currently, highway and other transportation projects are generally planned, funded and designed before considering the potential impacts to wildlife and sensitive biological resources. By identifying critical wildlife movement needs in relation to transportation systems, transportation and other planners will have improved abilities to predict and mitigate (avoid, minimize, or compensate for) wildlife impacts. The project proposes to study the occurrence and movement of small and medium-sized mammals across development and traffic gradients adjacent to I-80 as it bisects the Sierra Nevada. The project will investigate the effects of these gradients on spatial and temporal aspects of mammal movement and behavior. Data from these investigations will be immediately useful to transportation agency planners and biologists working in the area. Knowledge gained about wildlife movement in association with transportation system will be important for both mitigation investments and advancement of road ecology.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $60031.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT06-G-0022

  R04-4

• Sponsor Organizations:

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Performing Organizations:

  Sustainable Transportation Center/ITS-Davis

  ITS-Davis
  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Ustin, Susan

• Start Date: 20091001
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20110930
• Source Data: RiP Project 28174

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Animal vehicle crashes; Habitat (Ecology); Highway facilities; Wildlife; Wildlife crossings
• Uncontrolled Terms: Biological resources; Wildlife mitigation
• Geographic Terms: Sierra Nevada Mountains
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01468030
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of California Transportation Center/Institute of Transportation Studies
• Contract Numbers: DTRT06-G-0022, R04-4
• Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 3:44PM