Disentangle the Causes of the Road Barrier Effect in Small Mammals through Genetic Patterns.

ABSTRACT: Road barrier effect is among the foremost negative impacts of roads on wildlife. Knowledge of the factors responsible for the road barrier effect is crucial to understand and predict species' responses to roads, and to improve mitigation measures in the context of management and conservation. We built a set of hypothesis aiming to infer the most probable cause of road barrier effect (traffic effect or road surface avoidance), while controlling for the potentially confounding effects road width, traffic volume and road age. The wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus was used as a model species of small and forest-dwelling mammals, which are more likely to be affected by gaps in cover such as those resulting from road construction. We confront genetic patterns from opposite and same roadsides from s

SUBMITTER: Ascensao F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4792435 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature