People have been recording road-kill data to help gain a better understanding of how transport networks impact wildlife across the world for many years.

Following a review of many exciting mobile applications use to record roadkill we have redeveloped a popular app used in the UK to improve user experience and adapt it for use in the USA and other countries.

This presentation explores the process in which the team have taken to implement new features and improve functionality to create a better experience for users and ensure the users capture better quality data.

This presentation also explores a case study from within the USA that was conducted during the closed BETA testing during the Summer of 2021. TRAX is due to be available to download publicly in spring 2022 and we are actively looking for partners to conduct further pilot studies in the USA in the mean time.

traxapp.info

Bat fatalities at wind energy facilities are a growing concern in North America. The wind industry and wildlife agencies are seeking tools to reduce fatalities while continuing to generate clean energy to address climate change. Most bats are killed on low wind speed nights. Increasing the speed at which blades rotate and wind-generated electricity enters the power grid from the manufactured speed (‘blanket curtailment’; BC) greatly reduces bat fatalities, but also reduces annual energy production (AEP). Detection-based ‘smart curtailment’ (DBSC), which deactivates turbine blades only when bats are acoustically detected during high-risk periods, can potentially reduce bat fatalities and AEP loss to acceptable levels. We modeled wind variables, curtailment thresholds, and simulated bat activity patterns to determine AEP under BC and DBSC scenarios at six wind energy facilities in Alberta. Both approaches to curtailment yielded relatively low AEP loss, with DBSC losing less than 1% AEP and reducing losses approximately 50 to 100% compared to BC scenarios. Scenarios of low bat activity—common in the west—often resulted in close to zero energy loss. Our results demonstrate how DBSC can be a useful tool for reducing the impacts of wind energy facilities on bat populations while minimizing unnecessary production losses.

A survey in 2017 demonstrated that a large number of newts were being killed by vehicles using Alma Bridge Road, most likely during annual breeding migrations to breed in Lexington Reservoir. In order to help determine the effect of this road-based mortality, we conducted a drift fence/pitfall trap array study to estimate the number of adult Taricha torosa and Taricha granulosa attempting to cross Alma Bridge Road during the 2020/2021 breeding season. Drift fence/pitfall trap arrays were installed and daily surveys were conducted. Daily traffic and precipitation data were also recorded. Concurrently, a citizen scientists group conducted road carcass surveys over the entire study area. We analyzed the data to calculate the number of adult newts attempting to cross Alma Bridge Road at the arrays and the road-based mortality rates. Then, with road mortality data provided by the citizen scientists, we estimated the number of adult California newts attempting to cross the road and the mortality rates over the study area during the survey period. We then modeled whether this road-based mortality rate might, if left unabated, lead to a reduction in, and possibly the eventual extirpation of, the local population of newts breeding in Lexington Reservoir.

Between October 2018 and September 2021, canine search teams surveyed 20 plots (115-meter radius) centered on turbines at a wind farm in California. The canines were trained to locate and alert handlers to the presence of avian and bat fatalities. Half of the plots were surveyed every 7 days, and half were surveyed every 28 days. In order to calibrate fatality estimates, and to monitor the abilities of the canines, we placed bird and bat carcasses on the plots before they were surveyed. A total of 717 carcasses were placed over the three years, with nearly equal numbers of bats, small birds, and medium/large birds. Nearly equal numbers were placed on 7- and 28-day survey plots. Canines found 45% of bats, 51% of small birds, 78% of medium birds, and 93% of large birds. Canines found a higher percentage of all types of trial carcasses on 7-day plots than 28-day plots. The biggest differences were for bats (60% on 7-day vs. 31% on 28-day) and small birds (62% on 7-day vs. 39% on 28-day). Canines found a higher percentage of bats (31% vs. 6%) and small birds (39% vs. 13%) trial carcasses than human searchers on comparable 28-day plots.

The recent expansion of cannabis agriculture in rural areas of the western United States provides an ideal opportunity to study the outcomes of rapid land use change for wildlife. Small scale (<1 acre), private-land cannabis cultivation has the ability to impair or coexist with surrounding wildlife communities. This study examines local wildlife community dynamics on and surrounding active private-land cannabis farms in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion in southern Oregon. Using camera data collected between 2018–2019, we modeled the space use of medium to large mammals as a function of distance to cannabis farm, using both single- and multi-species occupancy frameworks. We found that wildlife had differential responses to cannabis farms. In general, larger-bodied mammals seemed to respond more strongly to cannabis farms, but there was evidence for relatively fine scale thresholds of effect. These results add to the growing understanding of wildlife response to human disturbance, particularly in frontier development scenarios. This study highlights the need for further research on site-level production practices and their influence on surrounding ecological communities.

Livestock grazing is one of the most widespread influences on native ecosystems of western North America. Research on the impacts of livestock on carnivores and ungulates varies, and the degree to which wildlife are affected is often species-specific. We used remote trail cameras to compare the activity patterns of black bear (Ursus americanus), coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in areas with and without cattle grazing before, during, and after the grazing period in northeastern California. Activity patterns of black bears were minimally affected, while bobcats, coyotes, and mule deer demonstrated a shift in activity. Mule deer and coyotes detected in grazing allotments had greater activity overlap with cattle, while bobcats detected in grazing allotments had less activity overlap with cattle. Cattle were found to be most active in the morning, dusk, and night. These findings suggest that carnivores and ungulates display varying levels of sensitivity and behavioral plasticity in response to the presence of cattle.

The Aleutian cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) recovered from near extinction and was delisted in 2001 but the population increase led to conflicts with private landowners. Thousands of migrating geese stage each spring to feed on livestock pastures in Humboldt County. Despite coordinated hazing plans and hunting seasons to scare geese from private lands to adjacent public lands, a wildlife-agricultural dilemma exists between geese and livestock producers who view the geese as pasture competitors. To help shift perceptions from conflict management to broader social-ecological systems management, we investigated if geese provided ecosystem services via the fertilizing effect of droppings on pasture vegetation using a greenhouse experiment from February to August 2019. We documented the addition of goose droppings to simulated goose-grazed pasture vegetation increased forage production in newly sown ryegrass pasture (range 107.9 % - 333.8 % worth $79 - $243/acre) and established pasture (range 12.3 % - 44.6 % worth $69 - $251/acre), providing improved summertime hay harvests two- and four-months post-treatment. These results indicate that a mutualistic relationship likely exists between wild Aleutian geese and cattle. Continued research using field-based experimental methods is needed to bolster support for holistic management of grasslands to benefit geese and livestock.

The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) continues to rapidly lose upland habitat critical to maintaining populations and connecting aquatic habitats that remain on the landscape in public and private lands. Agricultural lands, including those in low intensity use, are often dismissed as not having any significant value as upland and subsequently lost via conversion to development, including industrial scale solar projects, or less suitable higher intensity agricultural uses. Extensive data exists to document the continued use of refugia located in disturbed and agricultural lands, including those that are disked. In the face of climate change and with continued pressure for conversion, these lands will take on an increasingly important role in connecting lands protected for the salamander (or other pond breeding amphibians). Protecting only breeding sites and small areas of adjacent land is unlikely to provide long term viability to support populations. This results in establishment of preserves that do not have adequate upland habitat or lack connectivity to other breeding sites for recolonization if the site experiences extirpation. Recognition of the value of upland agricultural and disturbed lands and protection of these landscapes from conversion to less suitable uses will play an important role in conservation and recovery of the California tiger salamander.