An Analytical Framework of the Factors Affecting Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions and Barriers to Movement

Haotong Su, Yun Wang (), Yangang Yang, Shuangcheng Tao and Yaping Kong ()
Additional contact information
Haotong Su: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Yun Wang: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Yangang Yang: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Shuangcheng Tao: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Yaping Kong: China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-16

Abstract: Road mortalities caused by wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) are the most obvious negative effect of roads on wildlife. Identifying the influencing factors and summarizing the spatial-temporal patterns of WVCs have been important research trends in recent decades. However, most studies have only considered a portion of the factors, and there remains a lack of a relatively complete framework, including the numerous factors of WVCs, as well as the underlying transmission mechanisms between factors. In this study, an analytical framework incorporating a wide range of previously discussed factors is constructed. The framework not only displays the possible direction of the influence of each factor on WVCs, but also summarizes some important potential explanations under some circumstances and reveals the main interactions between certain types of factors. From one perspective, the factors affecting WVCs can be divided into four categories: species characteristics, road and traffic characteristics, landscape and environmental characteristics, and driver-related factors and specific human activities. From another perspective, the factors affecting WVCs can be mainly categorized as those related to entering roads and those related to leaving roads safely. The study begins with a discussion of three important sub-frameworks: factors promoting road crossing, factors related to barriers to movement, and factors related to safe crossing. Finally, a suggestion is provided to promote the research on WVCs globally.

Keywords: wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs); crossing willingness; crossing avoidance; crossing ability; road ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11181/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11181/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11181-:d:1196465

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().