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Influence of Ring Changbai Mountain Scenic Highway on wildlife.

WANG Yun1**, PIAO Zheng-ji2, GUAN Lei1, KONG Ya-ping1   

  1. (1China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2Changbai Mountain Academy of Sciences, Jilin Province, Erdaobaihe 133613, Jilin, China)
  • Online:2013-02-10 Published:2013-02-10

Abstract: With the large-scale expansion of highway construction in ecologically sensitive area, wildlife conservation has become an urgent and important topic during the highway infrastructure construction and operation. However, few studies have been made on the wildlife conservation along the highways in China. By using sample line method and infrared camera monitoring, a field survey from November 2008 to February 2012 was conducted on the roadkill, road effect zone for wildlife, wildlife crossing highway, and wildlife crossing structure along the Ring Changbai Mountain Scenic Highway, which is adjacent to the Changbai Mountain Nature Reserve. The results showed that within the 500 m roadside of the Highway, the species richness of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians accounted for 42.86%, 24.78%, 66.67%, and 66.67% of the wildlife species richness in the Nature Reserve, respectively. Among the wildlife, 11 species were national protective species, 2 of which were of firstclass, and 9 were of secondclass. A total of 3475 wildlife belonging to 59 species were killed by the vehicles on this Highway, and the road-kill rate was averagely 61.6 individuals·100 km-1. In terms of magnitude, amphibians had the highest mortality (2996 individuals). The species richness of birds and mammals was not impacted by the Highway, but there was a concentrative trend about the frequency of these wildlife activities within the 200 m roadside. The 10 surveys in winter indicated that a total of 13 species were found crossing the Highway for 502 times, and Siberian Weasel had the highest crossing frequency (169 times). When crossing the Highway, the wildlife preferred to the highway section with the roadside vegetation being primitive Korean pine and broad-leaved forest. There were 6 medium and large sizes species using bridges and culverts to cross the Highway, and the utilization rate of the bridges and culverts was 88% and 44.2%, respectively. Vegetation type, human disturbance, and size of wildlife crossing structure all had significant effects on the utilization rate. Some countermeasures for protecting the wildlife were provided correspondingly.