Monitoring of Wildlife Mortality on a State Road in Rondônia, Western Amazon

Abstract

Objective: describe the monitoring of the mortality of wild animals on a state road located in the municipality of Cacaulândia, state of Rondônia, Western Amazon, caused by the hit of vehicles. Method: the methodological procedure follows that recommended in the manual of the Brazilian Center for Road Ecology Studies CBEE). Result: in the 19-month study period, the identification of animals run over and killed by vehicles reaches 2.57 animals per day, corresponding to an average of 77.1 animals per month and totaling 1,464.9 animals. This value corresponds to 0.073 animals killed per km traveled. The most victimized animal class was that of reptiles with a relative frequency of 51%, followed by mammals with 26.5%, birds with 14.3% and amphibians with 8.2%. Conclusions: peak deaths of wild animals occur on rainy days in the Amazon region. However, in the warm season and in the period of forest fires in the region, wildlife mortality rates remain quite high. What is expected is that this study will serve as an elementary basis so that managers of public policies of the infrastructure service in which the road component of the state of Rondônia is a part can adopt mitigating measures consecrated with the effectiveness in reducing / mitigating impacts in different biological groups, in the specific case of wildlife mortality.