An investigation into the use of road drainage structures by wildlife in Maryland.

Details

• Creators:
  Sparks, James L. ; Gates, J. Edward
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Appalachian Laboratory
• Corporate Contributors:
  Maryland. State Highway Administration. Office of Policy & Research
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Wildlife crossings
  • Culverts
  • Camera trapping, Culverts, Mammals,
  • Maryland, White-tailed deer
• Publication/ Report Number:
  MD-11-SP909B4M
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Maryland
• Corporate Publisher:
  Maryland. State Highway Administration. Office of Policy & Research
• Abstract:
  The research team documented culvert use by 57 species of vertebrates with both infra-red motion detecting digital ; game cameras and visual sightings. Species affiliations with culvert characteristics were analyzed using χ2 ; statistics, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), ANOVA, and t-tests for 12 species (northern raccoon, ; Virginia opossum, domestic cat, woodchuck, great blue heron, red fox, humans, white-tailed deer, gray squirrel, ; Norway rat, gray fox, and white-footed or deer mouse) that occurred in more than 30 culverts. Culvert width and ; length were the most important variables according to CCA. Nearly all of these 12 species exhibited greater use of ; culverts with lower mean water depth, except for great blue heron, which used culverts that had deeper water (P = ; 0.014) more frequently. White-tailed deer (n = 1,903 in 63 culverts) were not strongly associated with a particular ; culvert shape (χ2 = 5.589, 2 df, P = 0.061) or substrate type (χ2 = 7.462, 5 df, P = 0.188). White-tailed deer used ; culverts less often when there was no fence on either side of the highway (χ2 = 26.491, 5 df, P < 0.001). The ; number of road-killed deer was generally less in areas receiving high use of culverts by deer, although there were ; notable exceptions. White-tailed deer used culverts in the Maryland Piedmont region more frequently (F3, 261 = ; 5.995, P = 0.001). Northern raccoons were the most prevalent species in the camera survey, occurring in 246 of ; the 265 (93%) sampled culvert cells. Green frogs were the most abundant herptile species, sighted in 38 culverts. ; Box culverts were the most frequently used type of culvert for nest building by both barn swallow (χ2 = 7.474, 1 ; df, P = 0.006) and eastern phoebe (χ2 = 18.292, 1 df, P < 0.001). Our results can be used to better design or ; retrofit culverts to improve wildlife-habitat connectivity and reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Phase I: SP808B4Q ; Phase II: SP909B4M
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23051/dot_23051_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.43 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3951a92ddaabc5476c78eaeed632974d6207db62dbb09d0e5c6acb1033d160f45472993b4cbfb84a9d0516f523d0beeddbc41f7762be5a451a234bae82ee4675