Mapa dos atropelamentos de fauna de mamíferos no norte do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Highways offer many benefits to society. Although they contribute to human economic development, the highways promote unfavorable impacts on wild fauna by destroying habitats, separating natural populations and collisions. The collisions of vehicles to fauna are among the biggest cause of mortality of the fauna. As a result, it becomes relevant to assess where and when the causes of the roadkills of the fauna on the highways, to later propose mitigation measures. The goal of this study was to identify the species of medium and large-sized mammals roadkilled on three highways in the north of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and to map the locations of the collisions. With the records of roadkills, from studies conducted by the team at the Ecology and Conservation Laboratory of the Federal University of Fronteira Sul, Campus Erechim, maps were prepared with the distribution of the collisions, by species on the three roads studied. In total, 189 individuals of medium and large mammals were roadkilled, distributed among 12 species. The species with the most hits were: Didelphis albiventris, Dasypus novemcinctus and Cerdocyon thous. The hit and run occurred along the entire stretch sampled on the highways, and it is not possible to identify the hit-and-run concentration points.