Every day, thousands of vehicles travel along the highways and roads distributed throughout the Brazilian territory, causing worrying impacts on wildlife conservation, such as the trampling of animals and habitat fragmentation. According to the survey conducted by the Brazilian Center for Studies in Road Ecology (CBEE, 2015), it is estimated that every second about 15 animals are killed on roads and highways in our country, that is, 1, 296 million per day, resulting in 475 million animals killed per year. In view of this worrying picture, "Road Ecology", a term coined by ecologist Richard Forman in 1998, emerged with the objective of detecting the social and environmental effects caused by the construction and use of roads, as well as finding ways to reduce these impacts.
And how does road ecology work?
The mortality of vertebrates by road traffic collisions exceeds hunting in Brazil and has as ais developed with sampling of species and specimens present in a region that is suffering the direct effects of road infrastructure. With the results found, it is possible to interpret the data and analyze ways to mitigate the impacts caused on biodiversity.
The mortality of vertebrates by road traffic collisions exceeds hunting in Brazil and has as a consequence the decline of biodiversity in many places, especially when species that are already at risk of extinction are affected. Considering that the most diverse wild species are victims of being run over by cars, it is important to note that these animals do not understand the danger of crossing these roads and end up being fatally hit.
From this perspective, in 2017, the National Strategy for Mitigation of Impacts of Road Infrastructure on Biodiversity (BioInfra Brasil) was created, with the objective of deepening the knowledge about the effects of roads and highways, establishing transdisciplinary actions to be developed and increasing public policies related to this issue. Furthermore, several projects have been applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of road kills on wild animals, such as the Urubu System, the Rodofauna Project and the Flags and Roads Project, among many others that help to identify the critical areas of accidents and the most affected species. Thus, it is expected a better management and planning of roads and highways with increased sustainability and greater possibility to ensure the maintenance and
conservation of wildlife.
REFERENCES
DAMKE, Marcio Jose. Road Ecology: Impact of highways on vertebrate fauna of the Santa Helena, PR. 2018.34. f. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Curso Superior de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas), Coordenação do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná. Santa Helena, PR, 2018.
Ribeiro, Douglas José da Silva. Ecologia de estradas e educação ambiental: um diálogo possível? / Douglas José da Silva Ribeiro. – Curitiba, 2020.
FORMAN, R. T. T.; Alexander, L. E. Roads and their major ecological effects. Annual Review of Ecology and Sistematics, 29: 206-231, 1998.
FORMAN, R. T. T. et al. Road ecology: science and solutions. Washington: Island Press, 2002, 481 p.
OLIVEIRA, E. A. et al. Propostas para redução da mortalidade por atropelamento da fauna silvestre na Avenida Itavuvu, Sorocaba - SP. Scientia vitae, v. 3, n. 11, 2016.
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