Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2E9.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 Sep 16;374(1781):20180050. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0050. Epub 2019 Jul 29.
Transportation infrastructure can cause an ecological trap if it attracts wildlife for foraging and travel opportunities, while increasing the risk of mortality from collisions. This situation occurs for a vulnerable population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Banff National Park, Canada, where train strikes have become a leading cause of mortality. We explored this problem with analyses of rail-associated food attractants, habitat use of GPS-collared bears and patterns of past mortality. Bears appeared to be attracted to grain spilled from rail cars, enhanced growth of adjacent vegetation and train-killed ungulates with rail use that increased in spring and autumn, and in areas where trains slowed, topography was rugged, and human density was low. However, areas with higher grain deposits or greater use by bears did not predict sites of past mortality. The onset of reported train strikes occurred amid several other interacting changes in this landscape, including the cessation of lethal bear management, changes in the distribution and abundance of ungulates, increasing human use and new anthropogenic features. We posit that rapid learning by bears is critical to their persistence in this landscape and that this capacity might be enhanced to prevent train strikes in future with simple warning devices, such as the one we invented, that signal approaching trains. This article is part of the theme issue 'Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation'.
交通基础设施如果吸引野生动物觅食和旅行，同时增加因碰撞而死亡的风险，就会造成生态陷阱。这种情况发生在加拿大班夫国家公园的脆弱灰熊（Ursus arctos）种群中，火车撞击已成为导致灰熊死亡的主要原因。我们通过分析与铁轨相关的食物引诱物、GPS 项圈熊的栖息地利用以及过去死亡率的模式来探讨这个问题。熊似乎被从火车车厢溢出的谷物、邻近植被的旺盛生长以及铁轨上死亡的有蹄类动物所吸引，这些动物的使用量在春季和秋季增加，并且在火车减速、地形崎岖和人类密度较低的地区增加。然而，谷物沉积较多或熊使用较多的区域并不能预测过去死亡的地点。报告的火车撞击事件发生在这个景观中发生的其他几个相互作用的变化之中，包括停止致命的熊管理、有蹄类动物的分布和数量的变化、人类使用的增加以及新的人为特征。我们假设，熊的快速学习对于它们在这种景观中的生存至关重要，并且这种能力可以通过简单的预警装置来增强，例如我们发明的一种可以在火车靠近时发出信号的装置，以防止未来发生火车撞击事件。本文是主题为“将行为与种群和群落动态联系起来：在行为生态学中应用新方法进行保护”的一部分。
