A decrease in reports on road-killed animals based on citizen science during COVID-19 lockdown.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To avoid the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, many countries have implemented strict lockdown measures for several weeks. In Austria, the lockdown in early spring has led to a significant drop in human outdoor activities, especially in road traffic. In Project Roadkill, a citizen science project which aims to collect data on road-killed animals, we observed a significant decrease in reported roadkills.

Methods

By asking the citizen scientists through a survey how their travelling routines were affected, we investigated if the observed decrease in roadkills was grounded in less animals being killed by traffic, or in citizen scientists staying at home and thus reporting less road-killed animals.

Results

A majority of the respondents stated that

SUBMITTER: Dorler D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8621783 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature