School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States of America.
Department of Zoology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Feb 20;14(2):e0210180. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210180. eCollection 2019.
Millions of birds in the United States die annually due to vehicle collisions on roads. Collisions may be of particular interest for species of conservation concern, such as the endangered Hawaiian goose (Nēnē), which is endemic to Hawai'i. Using a nearly 40-year dataset of Nēnē road mortality in and around Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, we sought to answer the following research questions: 1) has Nēnē mortality changed over time? 2) are there times of the year in which mortality is greatest and does it relate to specific events in the species' lifecycle? 3) does age at mortality differ over time, space, or sex? 4) given that existing mortalities appear to occur only in certain locations, do the number of mortality events differ across these locations; 5) does mortality rate show any density dependence? and, 6) are mortality rates related to numbers of visitors or vehicles? Between 1977 and 2014, a total of 92 Nēnē died from vehicle collisions; while absolute mortality increased over this time, the mortality rate remained the same. Similarly, average age of mortality increased over time, but did not differ by location or sex. Between 1995 and 2014, Nēnē population size and mortality rates were not correlated. Mortality was greatest in November and December (breeding season) and lowest in June. Most of the mortality occurred along just three stretches of road in and around the park, with the number of mortalities split about evenly inside and outside of the park. Furthermore, Nēnē mortality was unrelated to the number of visitors or traffic volume in the park. These findings suggest vehicle collisions are a growing concern for Nēnē, but that management actions to reduce mortality can be targeted at specific road segments and times of the year.
在美国,每年有数百万只鸟死于道路上的车辆碰撞。对于受保护的物种,如濒危的夏威夷鹅(Nēnē),这种碰撞可能特别值得关注,因为夏威夷鹅是夏威夷特有的物种。利用近 40 年来在夏威夷火山国家公园内外对 Nēnē 道路死亡率的数据集,我们试图回答以下研究问题:1)Nēnē 的死亡率是否随时间变化?2)是否有一年中死亡率最高的时期,并且与物种生命周期中的特定事件有关?3)死亡率是否随时间、空间或性别而有所不同?4)鉴于现有的死亡率似乎只发生在某些特定地点,这些地点的死亡率事件数量是否有所不同;5)死亡率是否存在密度依赖性?6)死亡率是否与游客或车辆数量有关?1977 年至 2014 年间,共有 92 只 Nēnē 死于车辆碰撞;尽管在此期间绝对死亡率有所上升,但死亡率保持不变。同样,平均死亡率随着时间的推移而增加,但在位置或性别上没有差异。1995 年至 2014 年间,Nēnē 种群规模和死亡率没有相关性。死亡率在 11 月和 12 月(繁殖季节)最高,6 月最低。大多数死亡率仅发生在公园内外的三条道路上,公园内和公园外的死亡率大致相等。此外,Nēnē 的死亡率与公园内游客人数或交通量无关。这些发现表明,车辆碰撞对 Nēnē 来说是一个日益严重的问题,但可以针对特定的道路路段和一年中的特定时期采取减少死亡率的管理措施。