Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Examining vertebrate road mortality on highways passing through protected areas of eastern Ethiopia

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Wildlife Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Highways bisecting protected areas can have adverse impacts on wild animals. Many studies around the world have investigated the intensities of roadkill resulting from such highways and the subsequent conservation impacts. However, there have been limited studies undertaken in developing countries in this regard. We investigated road-related mortality of three taxonomic groups (birds, mammals, and reptiles) on six roads in eastern Ethiopia that bisect four protected areas. We collected roadkill occurrence data in both dry and wet seasons by undertaking 34 systematic driven road surveys over a 5-month period. A total of 128 roadkill were recorded comprising 44 species belonging to 24 families. We recorded more bird and mammal roadkills, making up 46.9.% and 45.3% of the total samples, respectively. Out of the 44 species detected, 79.6% were of least concern, while 18.1% were vulnerable, i.e., near threatened and endangered species, while 2.3% were critically endangered. Diurnal species constituted the majority of roadkill detected (75%), followed by nocturnal (18.2%) and crepuscular (6.8%). Most records of roadkill (64.8%) were encountered in roads adjacent to protected areas, highlighting the potential threat that roads pose on wildlife within protected areas of Eastern Ethiopia. Our study is aimed at adding to the baseline of impacts of roads on wildlife in developing countries. Further study of spatial and temporal patterns of roadkill on the current study roads and other roads in the country will assist with a greater understanding of the impacts of roads in Ethiopia and allow appropriate mitigation measures to be proposed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All the data generated and/or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

References

  • African Development Bank (2018) Nairobi-Addis Ababa road corridor boosts trade in East and Horn of Africa. https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/success-stories/nairobi-addis-ababa-road-corridor-boosts-trade-in-east-and-horn-of-africa. Accessed 7 Jan 2020

  • Alden C (2009) China and Africa’s natural resources: the challenges and implications for development and governance. Occas Pap 4:11–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Antworth RL, Pike DA, Stevens EE (2005) Hit and run: effects of scavenging on estimates of roadkilled vertebrates. Southeast Nat 4:647–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aresco MJ (2005) Mitigation measures to reduce highway mortality of turtles and other herpetofauna at a north Florida lake. J Wildl Manag 69:549–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balčiauskas L (2009) Distribution of species-specific wildlife-vehicle accidents on Lithuanian roads, 2002–2007. Estonian J Ecol 58:157œ168

  • Balčiauskas L, Stratford J, Balčiauskienė L, Kučas A (2020) Importance of professional roadkill data in assessing diversity of mammal roadkills. Transp Res Part D Transp Environ 87:102493

  • Baskaran N, Boominathan D (2010) Road kill of animals by highway traffic in the tropical forests of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, southern India. J Threat Taxa 2:753–759

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett VJ (2017) Effects of road density and pattern on the conservation of species and biodiversity. Curr Landsc Ecol Rep 2:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40823-017-0020-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BirdLife International (2018) Aquila rapax. The IUCN red list of threatened species 2018. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696033A131671001.en. Accessed 25 Apr 2019

  • Bullock K, Malan G, Pretorius M (2011) Mammal and bird road mortalities on the Upington to Twee Rivieren main road in the southern Kalahari, South Africa. Afr Zool 46:60–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clevenger AP, Chruszcz B, Gunson KE (2003) Spatial patterns and factors influencing small vertebrate fauna road-kill aggregations. Biol Cons 109:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coffin AW (2007) From roadkill to road ecology: a review of the ecological effects of roads. J Transp Geogr 15:396–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collinson WJ, Marneweck C, Davies-Mostert HT (2019) Protecting the protected: reducing wildlife roadkill in protected areas. Anim Conserv 22:396–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collinson WJ, Parker DM, Bernard RT, Reilly BK, Davies-Mostert HT (2014) Wildlife road traffic accidents: a standardized protocol for counting flattened fauna. Ecol Evol 4:3060–3071

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Collinson WJ, Reilly BK, Parker DM, Bernard RT, Davies-Mostert HT (2015) An inventory of vertebrate roadkill in the greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier conservation area, South Africa. Afr J Wildl Res 45:301–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das A, Ahmed MF, Lahkar BP, Sharma P (2007) A preliminary report of reptilian mortality on road due to vehicular movement near Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India. Zoos’ Print J 22:2742–2744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean W, Milton S (2003) The importance of roads and road verges for raptors and crows in the Succulent and Nama-Karoo, South Africa. Ostrich J Afr Ornithol 74:181–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean WRJ, Seymour CL, Joseph GS, Foord SH (2019) A review of the impacts of roads on wildlife in semi-arid regions. Diversity 11:81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ERA (2015) Organizational background of the ERA. Ethiopian Road Authority (ERA). http://www.era.gov.et/web/guest/about-us. Accessed 31 Jul 2019

  • Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (2014) Ethiopian’s fifth national report to the convention on biological diversity. Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • EWCA (2014) The value of the Ethiopian protected area system: message to policy makers. Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), Addis Ababa, pp 1–12

  • Forman RT et al (2003) Road ecology: science and solutions. Island press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Garriga N, Santos X, Montori A, Richter-Boix A, Franch M, Llorente GA (2012) Are protected areas truly protected? The impact of road traffic on vertebrate fauna. Biodivers Conserv 21:2761–2774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glista DJ, DeVault TL, DeWoody JA (2008) Vertebrate road mortality predominantly impacts amphibians. Herpetol Conserv Biol 3:77–87

    Google Scholar 

  • González-Gallina A, Benítez-Badillo G, Rojas-Soto OR, Hidalgo-Mihart MG (2013) The small, the forgotten and the dead: highway impact on vertebrates and its implications for mitigation strategies. Biodivers Conserv 22:325–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green-Barber JM, Old JM (2019) What influences road mortality rates of eastern grey kangaroos in a semi-rural area? BMC Zool 4:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-019-0047-8

  • Grilo C, Bissonette JA, Santos-Reis M (2009) Spatial–temporal patterns in Mediterranean carnivore road casualties: consequences for mitigation. Biol Cons 142:301–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guinard É, Prodon R, Barbraud C (2015) Case study: a robust method to obtain defendable data on wildlife mortality. Handb Road Ecol 96:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale R, Swearer SE (2016) Ecological traps: current evidence and future directions. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 283:20152647

  • Hamer AJ, Langton TE, Lesbarrères D (2015) Making a safe leap forward: mitigating road impacts on amphibians. In: van der Ree R, Daniel J. Smith DJ, Grilo C(eds) Handbook of Road Ecology. Wiley, Chichester, pp 261–270

  • Huijser M, McGowen P, Fuller J, Hardy A, Kocjolek A (2008) Wildlife-vehicle collision reduction study: report to congress (No. FHWA-HRT-08-034). US Department of Transportation, Washington, DC

  • Ibrahim W (2011) Road sector development and economic growth in Ethiopia. EDRI Working Paper 4. Ethiopian Development Research Insitute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • IUCN (2019) The IUCN red list of threatened species version 2019-1. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on 05 August 2020

  • Jackson SD, Griffin CR (2000) A strategy for mitigating highway impacts on wildlife. In: Wildlife and highways: seeking solutions to an ecological and socio-economic dilemma. The Wildlife Society, pp 143–159

  • Jones AP, Haynes R, Kennedy V, Harvey I, Jewell T, Lea D (2008) Geographical variations in mortality and morbidity from road traffic accidents in England and Wales. Health Place 14:519–535

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kebede F, Moehlman PD, Bekele A, Evangelista PH (2014) Predicting seasonal habitat suitability for the critically endangered African wild ass in the Danakil, Ethiopia. Afr J Ecol 52:533–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keshkamat SS, Looijen JM, Zuidgeest MH (2009) The formulation and evaluation of transport route planning alternatives: a spatial decision support system for the Via Baltica project, Poland. J Transp Geogr 17:54–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon J (2015) The Kingdon field guide to African mammals. Bloomsbury Publishing, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kioko J, Kiffner C, Jenkins N, Collinson WJ (2015) Wildlife roadkill patterns on a major highway in northern Tanzania. Afr Zool 50:17–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiros W, Kibrom F, Raman PV, Teferi M, Solomon K, Meheretu Y (2016) Vehicle–wild vertebrate collision mortality on the highways of Tigray, Ethiopia, implications for conservation. Afr J Ecol 54:442–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lala F et al (2021) Wildlife roadkill in the Tsavo Ecosystem, Kenya: identifying hotspots, potential drivers, and affected species. Heliyon 7:e06364

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Langen TA, Ogden KM, Schwarting LL (2009) Predicting hot spots of herpetofauna road mortality along highway networks. J Wildl Manag 73:104–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton T (1989) Reasons for preventing amphibian mortality on roads. Federal Republic of Germany, Rendsburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Largen M, Spawls S (2010) The amphibians and reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira,Frankfurt Shiferaw A, Söderbom M, Siba E, Alemu G (2012) Road Networks and Enterprise Performance in Ethiopia: Evidence from the Road Sector Development Program: Working Paper No. 12/0696. International Growth Centre (IGC), London

  • Laurance WF, Sloan S, Weng L, Sayer JA (2015) Estimating the environmental costs of Africa’s massive “development corridors.” Curr Biol 25:3202–3208

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li JC (2008) Environmental impact assessments in developing countries: an opportunity for greater environmental security. USAID and FESS, Falls Church, VA

  • Mkanda F, Chansa W (2011) Changes in temporal and spatial pattern of road kills along the Lusaka-Mongu (M9) highway, Kafue National Park, Zambia. Afr J Wildl Res 41:68–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulualem G, Tesfahunegny W (2016) Review of key wildlife threats factors from literature and observation perspectives: a way forward for sustainable wildlife genetic resource conservation practices in Ethiopia. J Zool Stud 3:01–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxford Business Group (2019) A surge in Ethiopia-bound trade from Djibouti increases traffic and prompts reforms. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/analysis/good-neighbours-jump-ethiopia-bound-trade-increases-traffic-and-prompts-reforms. Accessed 12 Jun 2019

  • Redman N, Stevenson T, Fanshawe J (2016) Birds of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Socotra-revised and expanded edition, vol 107. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

  • RSDP (1996) Road sector development program (RSDP): the Ethiopian Road Authority. http://www.era.gov.et/documents/10157/e1b65628-1e96-4810-9386-80f7bb6d402e. Accessed 31 Jul 2019

  • Santos RAL, Santos SM, Santos-Reis M, de Figueiredo AP, Bager A, Aguiar LM, Ascensao F (2016) Carcass persistence and detectability: reducing the uncertainty surrounding wildlife-vehicle collision surveys. PLoS ONE 11:e0165608

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Santos SM, Carvalho F, Mira A (2011) How long do the dead survive on the road? Carcass Persistence Probability and implications for road-kill monitoring surveys. PLoS ONE 6:e25383. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025383

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schlaepfer MA, Runge MC, Sherman PW (2002) Ecological and evolutionary traps. Trends Ecol Evol 17:474–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seiler A (2003) The toll of the automobile: wildlife and roads in Sweden Doctoral thesis. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiferaw A, Söderbom M, Siba E, Alemu G (2012) Road networks and enterprise performance in Ethiopia: evidence from the road sector development program, vol 12

  • Siegfried W (1966) Casualties among birds along a selected road in Stellenbosch. Ostrich 37:146–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair I, Ryan P (2003) Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. Princeton Univiversity Press, Princeton, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson T, Fanshawe J (2002) Field guide to the birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda. Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Burundi

    Google Scholar 

  • Swinnen KR, Jacobs A, Claus K, Ruyts S, Vercayie D, Lambrechts J, Herremans M (2022) ‘Animals under wheels’: wildlife roadkill data collection by citizen scientists as a part of their nature recording activities. Nat Conserv 47:121–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor BD, Goldingay RL (2010) Roads and wildlife: impacts, mitigation and implications for wildlife management in Australia. Wildl Res 37:320–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuluy H (2016) Regional economic integration in Africa. Glob J Emerg Mark Econ 8:334–354

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Grift EA et al (2013) Evaluating the effectiveness of road mitigation measures. Biodivers Conserv 22:425–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Ree R, Jaeger JA, van der Grift EA, Clevenger AP (2011) Effects of roads and traffic on wildlife populations and landscape function: road ecology is moving toward larger scales. Ecol Soc 16:1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • van Langevelde F, Jaarsma CF (2005) Using traffic flow theory to model traffic mortality in mammals. Landsc Ecol 19:895–907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Xue X, Zhao Z, Wang Z (2018) The impacts of transportation infrastructure on sustainable development: emerging trends and challenges. Int J Environ Res Public Health 15:1172

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Mekelle Biodiversity Center, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University (MU), and NORAD (MU-NMBU) project office of Mekelle University for the logistic support of the field work. We would like to extend our thanks to the Endangered Wildlife Trust for their collaboration in the study and Dr Lizanne Roxburgh for assistance with the production of the map. Our thanks also goes to Mr. Brhane Gebere; two of our drivers Mr. Fitsum Redae and Mr. Kahsay Taddelle for their support during the field work. Three anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their valuable suggestions that improved the manuscript.

Funding

Field work of THH was supported through Tigray-Afar Eco-region project (VPRS/25/2012 and CRPO/CNCS/PhD/MU-NMBU/001/2011).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Getachew Mulualem and Tsegazeabe Hadush Haileselasie shared equal first authorship contribution.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Mekelle Biodiversity Center, Animals Biodiversity Case Team, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Getachew Mulualem & Weldemariam Tesfahunegny

  2. Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Getachew Mulualem

  3. Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Department of Botany and Zoology, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Getachew Mulualem

  4. The Endangered Wildlife Trust, Midrand 1685, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Wendy J. Collinson

  5. Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Wild Animals Case Team, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mengistu Walle & Abeje Kassie

  6. Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Mekelle Biodiversity Center, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Mebrahtom Mesfin

  7. University of Oslo, Natural History Museum, Blindern 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Desalegn Chala

  8. Mekelle University, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Department of Biology, Arid Main Campus, P.O. Box: 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia

    Mekonen Teferi & Tsegazeabe Hadush Haileselasie

  9. Tigray Biological and Biodiversity Association (TB²A), Mekelle, Tigray National Regional State, Ethiopia

    Tsegazeabe Hadush Haileselasie

Authors
  1. Getachew Mulualem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wendy J. Collinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Weldemariam Tesfahunegny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mengistu Walle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Abeje Kassie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Mebrahtom Mesfin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Desalegn Chala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Mekonen Teferi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Tsegazeabe Hadush Haileselasie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All the authors contributed to the study conception, design, and/or data acquisition processes. GM and THH conducted the analyses and compiled the first draft of the manuscript. All the authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tsegazeabe Hadush Haileselasie.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This is an observational study. Thus, no explicit ethical approval by research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goal of the study.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Road Ecology

Guest Editor: Marcello D’Amico

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 73 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mulualem, G., Collinson, W.J., Tesfahunegny, W. et al. Examining vertebrate road mortality on highways passing through protected areas of eastern Ethiopia. Eur J Wildl Res 69, 117 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-023-01750-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-023-01750-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation