In this study, through a literature review, and combining information about a) frequency of occurrence of bird casualties for 209 bird species recorded in roadkill events, b) European distribution of breeding bird species (EBCC dataset) and c) the road density through the continent, we elaborate on a forecasting map of potential avian roadkill-risk across Europe, by combining the data on road density and cumulative roadkill risk of bird communities. The tool proposed in this study can help to identify potential hotspots where the risk of avian roadkill is highest, at different spatial scales, offering the possibility to improve conservation measures in road ecology planning. Briefly, the prediction of where there is aligned convergence between communities with highly ranked species (regarding roadkill incidence) and landscapes with dense road networks can be used in traditional procedures modelling wildlife-car collisions, for transportation mitigation projects.
Morelli, F., Benedetti, Y., Delgado, J.D., 2020. A forecasting map of avian roadkill-risk in Europe: A tool to identify potential hotspots. Biological Conservation 249, 108729.
https:// doi.10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108729