Impact of secondary roads on wildlife of coastal center region Portugal and differences between before and post fire.
Abstract Background Anthropogenic activities affect ecosystems creating stress and new disturbances. Among these anthropogenic activities, we highlight roads that are main cause of habitat segmentation. As roads were built to accommodate traffic in rural areas, rate of vehicle-wildlife collisions has significantly expanded, thereby causing a direct decrease in population size. This study was conducted in Portugal (country's western central coast) and assessed impact of secondary roads on wildlife, as well as the influence that a catastrophic event, like a great fire, has on this wildlife. Practical work was carried out during 15 months (from October 2016 to December 2017), two consecutive days per week, first day being used for "road cleaning", that is, collection of all animals found on road, followed of their identification, and second day for morning and afternoon collection and identification of dead animals found on same tracks. Results In Agricultural Zone, vertebrate deaths on the road covered 17 species. Birds were the most affected , followed by amphibians, mammals and reptiles. The most fragile species were Passer domesticus and Salamandra salamandra. Two hotspots were recognized, one on each road. In Forestral Zone, vertebrate deaths on road included 26 species. Mammals were most vulnerable in this area followed by birds, amphibians and reptiles. Bufo bufo and Salamandra salamandra were the most vulnerable species. On the contrary, differences between roads composition were clear: there were only deaths on asphalted roads. Differences between before and after fire are evident Conclusions In this study, it was concluded that different zones and therefore different habitats should be worked on separately and that mitigation measures should be implemented as a priority in so-called "hotspots". This work highlights importance of secondary roads as a source of mortality for wildlife, and these should not be ignored. As far as macadam roads are concerned, they are not a threat to vertebrate populations in municipality of Mira. In future, it would be important to improve this work by including volume of traffic on roads and recording kilometers at which animals were collected. Results before and after fire illustrate the impact of this catastrophic event on wildlife.
