Limited Wildlife Diversity at Highway Right-of-Way Crossings

This project included estimation of animal occurrence near and using structures (e.g., culverts, street, and RR crossing structures) to cross the Interstate-80 right-of-way in the Sierra Nevada, California. A combination of track plates near over-crossings and remote cameras at under-crossings was used to index wildlife occurrence and crossings. Diversity was relatively low in the highway right-of-way and at highway under-crossings. Across six highway under-crossings, only eight of 38 possible species were observed moving through these crossings from one side of the highway right-of-way to the other. Alpha diversity at highway crossings ranged widely for wildlife near street under and over-crossings, but was not related to nearby land development. Wildlife use of existing under-crossing structures was inversely proportional to the presence of humans and frequency of human use of the same structures. This has important implications for effectiveness of existing structures and purpose-built “wildlife crossings” to provide for wildlife movement.

• Record URL:
  http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/themes/ucdavis/pubs/download_pdf.php?id=1680
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Davis

  Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center, Institute of Transportation Studies
  Davis, CA  United States  95616

  University of California, Davis

  Department of Environmental Science and Policy
  One Shields Avenue
  Davis, CA  United States  95616

  California Department of Transportation

  Division of Research and Innovation
  1227 O Street, MS-83
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94273-0001

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avneue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Shilling, Fraser M.
  • Haverkamp, Paul
  • Santos, Maria Izabel
  • Ustin, S L
• Publication Date: 2012-9-15

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 21p
• Serial:
  • University of California, Davis. Institute of Transportation Studies. Research report
  • Publisher: University of California, Davis

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Biodiversity; Crashes; Motion; Right of way (Land); Roadside fauna; Wildlife crossings
• Geographic Terms: Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01471904
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Report/Paper Numbers: UCD-ITS-RR-12-20, STC R04-4
• Files: CALTRANS, UTC, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 6 2013 12:48PM