Relative Effects of Road Risk, Habitat Suitability, and Connectivity on Wildlife Roadkills: The Case of Tawny Owls (Strix aluco)

Sara M Santos, Rui Lourenço, António Mira and Pedro Beja

PLOS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Despite its importance for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, there is still incomplete understanding of factors responsible for high road mortality. In particular, few empirical studies examined the idea that spatial variation in roadkills is influenced by a complex interplay between road-related factors, and species-specific habitat quality and landscape connectivity. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we addressed this issue, using a 7-year dataset of tawny owl (Strix aluco) roadkills recorded along 37 km of road in southern Portugal. We used a multi-species roadkill index as a surrogate of intrinsic road risk, and we used a Maxent distribution model to estimate habitat suitability. Landscape connectivity was estimated from least-cost paths between tawny owl territories, using habitat suitability as a resistance surface. We defined 10 alternative scenarios to compute connectivity, based on variation in potential movement patterns according to territory quality and dispersal distance thresholds. Hierarchical partitioning of a regression model indicated that independent variation in tawny owl roadkills was explained primarily by the roadkill index (70.5%) and, to a much lesser extent, by landscape connectivity (26.2%), while habitat suitability had minor effects (3.3%). Analysis of connectivity scenarios suggested that owl roadkills were primarily related to short range movements (

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0079967

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079967

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