Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WR > WR22121
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 51(1)

Conservation of black bear (Ursus americanus) in Mexico through GPS tracking: crossing and roadkill sites

Zuleyma Zarco-González https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6083-124X A , Rogelio Carrera-Treviño https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4888-9051 B and Octavio Monroy-Vilchis https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3159-6014 C *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Toluca, Av. Tecnológico s/n, Colonia Agrícola Bellavista, Metepec, Edo. de México, C.P. 52149, México.

B Laboratorio de Fauna Silvestre, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Campus Ciencias Agropecuariasn, Francisco Villa s/n, Escobedo, Nuevo León 66050n, México.

C Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto Literario 100, Centro, Toluca, México.

* Correspondence to: tavomonroyvilchis@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Pablo Ferreras

Wildlife Research 51, WR22121 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR22121
Submitted: 10 March 2022  Accepted: 2 September 2023  Published: 25 September 2023

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

Road networks are related to two global problems: habitat loss and degradation, and the decline of biodiversity. Wildlife roadkill is one of the most obvious and immediate impacts of linear infrastructure that affects all vertebrate groups, and some species, such as large carnivores, are more susceptible to fragmentation by roads due to their wide-ranging movements and home ranges.

Aims

Recently, black bear (Ursus americanus) sightings have increased in urban and suburban areas. The objectives of this study were: to identify and characterise road crossing sites used by black bears; to understand whether bears select specific landscape or road features for crossing; to compare crossing and roadkill sites; and to identify the most important variables in both groups to propose short-term mitigation strategies.

Methods

For the analysis of crossing sites, black bear individuals were captured from 2014 to 2018 and released with a GPS collar. We also calculated the dynamic model of Brownian motion to identify the road crossing sites. We obtained collision records from field work and government agencies. We performed Firth’s penalised-likelihood logistic regression models to identify the most important variables of highway or landscape in the probability of crossing or roadkill.

Key results

We captured 15 black bear individuals (11 males and four females), seven of which crossed a road at least once. Most of the crossings occurred during the night, which explains the results of the regression model between crossing and roadkill sites because crossings are a function of the percentage of buses and urban use. We also found that the speed at roadkill sites is significantly higher than at crossing sites.

Conclusions

This study contributed aspects necessary to understand the management of highways and reduce their impact on the black bear population in Mexico, such as the identification of priority mitigation sites. Systematic monitoring of roadkill in Mexico is required to propose specific mitigation sites that will benefit more vertebrate groups.

Implications

The information generated in this research forms the basis of identification of optimal sites for strategies to mitigate the bear–road conflict and help the conservation of the species.

Key words: black bear, conservation biology, dynamic Model of Brownian Bridge Movement, GPS, Mexico, road ecology, roadkill, telemetry, Ursus americanus.

References

Barnum SA (2004) Identifying the best locations to provide safe highway crossing opportunities for wildlife. In ‘Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation’. (Eds CL Irwin, P Garrett, KP McDermott) pp. 246–252. (Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC)

Bastille-Rousseau G, Wall J, Douglas-Hamilton I, Wittemyer G (2018) Optimizing the positioning of wildlife crossing structures using GPS telemetry. Journal of Applied Ecology 55(4), 2055-2063.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Beringer JJ, Seibert SG, Pelton MR (1990) Incidence of road crossing by black bears on Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina. Bears: Their Biology and Management 8, 85-92.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Brody AJ, Pelton MR (1989) Effects of roads on black bear movements in western North Carolina. Wildlife Society Bulletin 17(1), 5-10.
| Google Scholar |

Carrera-Treviño R, Zarco-González MM, Castillo-Huitrón NM, Monroy-Vilchis O (2018) Manejo y Conservación del Oso Negro (Ursus americanus) en México. In ‘Situación actual de los grandes depredadores’. (Eds O Monroy-Vilchis, V Urios-Moliner, MM Zarco-González) p. 137. (Autonomous University of the State of Mexico-COLOFÓN academic editions)

Caulkett N (2014) Bears. In ‘Zoo animal and wildlife immobilization and anesthesia’. (Eds G West, DJ Heard, N Caulkett) p. 410. (John Wiley & Sons)

Ceia-Hasse A, Borda-de-Água L, Grilo C, Pereira H M (2017) Global exposure of carnivores to roads. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26(5), 592-600.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Clevenger AP, Chruszcz B, Gunson K (2001) Drainage culverts as habitat linkages and factors affecting passage by mammals. Journal of Applied Ecology 38(6), 1340-1349.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Coffin AW (2007) From roadkill to road ecology: a review of the ecological effects of roads. Journal of Transport Geography 15(5), 396-406.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Colchero F, Conde DA, Manterola C, Chávez C, Rivera A, Ceballos G (2011) Jaguars on the move: modeling movement to mitigate fragmentation from road expansion in the Mayan Forest. Animal Conservation 14(2), 158-166.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Colino-Rabanal VJ, Lizana M, Peris SJ (2011) Factors influencing wolf Canis lupus roadkills in Northwest Spain. European Journal of Wildlife Research 57(3), 399-409.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Collinson WJ, Marneweck C, Davies‐Mostert HT (2019) Protecting the protected: reducing wildlife roadkill in protected areas. Animal Conservation 22(4), 396-403.
| Google Scholar |

CONANP (2021) ‘Áreas Naturales Protegidas Federales de México, diciembre 2021’, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. Ciudad de México. Available at http://sig.conanp.gob.mx/website/pagsig/info_shape.htm. [Accessed: August 2022]

Conover WJ (1999) ‘Practical Nonparametric Statistics.’ 3rd edn. (Wiley: New York) pp. 128–130.

ESRI (2016) ArcGIS 10.4.1. Environmental Systems Research Institute.

Find’o S, Skuban M, Kajba M, Chalmers J, Kalaš M (2018) Identifying attributes associated with brown bear (Ursus arctos) road-crossing and roadkill sites. Canadian Journal of Zoology 97(2), 156-164.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Forman RTT (1995) ‘Land mosaics: the ecology of landscapes and regions.’ p. 147. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Forman RTT, Deblinger RD (2000) The ecological road-effect zone of a Massachusetts (U.S.A.) suburban highway. Conservation Biology 14(1), 36-46.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Frid A, Dill LM (2002) Human-caused disturbance stimuli as a form of predation risk. Conservation Ecology 6(1), 11.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Garshelis DL, Scheick BK, Doan-Crider DL, Beecham JJ, Obbard ME (2016) Ursus americanus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41687A114251609. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T41687A45034604.en [Downloaded 11 November 2019]

González A, Badillo GB (2013) Road ecology studies for Mexico: a review. Oecologia Australis 17(1), 175-190.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Graves TA, Farley S, Goldstein MI, Servheen C (2007) Identification of functional corridors with movement characteristics of brown bears on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Landscape Ecology 22(5), 765-772.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Ha H (2021) Identifying potential wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) locations for black bear (Ursus americanus) in Florida under different environmental and human population factors. Papers in Applied Geography 8(2), 185-199.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Heinze G, Ploner M, Dunkler D, Southworth H, Heinze MG (2020) Package ‘logistf’ version 1.24. Available at https://cemsiis.meduniwien.ac.at/en/kb/science-research/software/statistical-software/fllogistf/ [Accessed September 2020].

Hill JE, DeVault TL, Belant JL (2021) A review of ecological factors promoting road use by mammals. Mammal Review 51(2), 214-227.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Hobday AJ (2010) Nighttime driver detection distances for Tasmanian fauna: informing speed limits to reduce roadkill. Wildlife Research 37(4), 265-272.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Ibisch PL, Hoffmann MT, Kreft S, Pe’er G, Kati V, Biber-Freudenberger L, DellaSala DA, Vale MM, Hobson PR, Selva N (2016) A global map of roadless areas and their conservation status. Science 354(6318), 1423-1427.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

INEGI (2013) Continuo de elevaciones mexicano. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía.

INEGI (2016) Conjunto de datos vectoriales de Uso del Suelo y Vegetación. Serie VI. (Capa Unión). Escala 1: 250 000. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía.

INEGI (2019) Red Nacional de Caminos (RNC). Escala 1: 50 000. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía.

Jalayer M, Pour-Rouholamin M, Patel D, Das S, Parvardeh H (2021) A penalized-likelihood approach to characterizing bridge-related crashes in New Jersey. Traffic Injury Prevention 22(1), 63-67.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Karelus DL, McCown JW, Scheick BK, van de Kerk M, Bolker BM, Oli MK (2017) Effects of environmental factors and landscape features on movement patterns of Florida black bears. Journal of Mammalogy 98(5), 1463-1478.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Kranstauber B, Kays R, LaPoint SD, Wikelski M, Safi K (2012) A dynamic Brownian bridge movement model to estimate utilization distributions for heterogeneous animal movement. Journal of Animal Ecology 81(4), 738-746.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Kranstauber B, Smolla M, Scharf AK (2013) Package “move”: visualizing and analyzing animal track data. Version 1.1. Available at https://bartk.gitlab.io/move/ [Accessed September 2020]

Lara-Díaz NE, Coronel-Arellano H, Lopez-González CA, Sánchez-Rojas G, Martínez-Gómez JE (2018) Activity and resource selection of a threatened carnivore: the case of black bears in northwestern Mexico. Ecosphere 9(1), e01923.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Lewis JS, Rachlow JL, Horne JS, Garton EO, Wakkinen WL, Hayden J, Zager P (2011) Identifying habitat characteristics to predict highway crossing areas for black bears within a human-modified landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning 101(2), 99-107.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Lin S-C (2016) Landscape and traffic factors affecting animal road mortality. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management 24(1), 10-20.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

MAD-Mex (2018) Monitoring activity data for the Mexican REDD+ program. Sentinel.

Manteca-Rodríguez M, Félix-Burruel RE, Aguilar-Morales C, Bravo JC, Traphagen M, Larios E (2021) Wildlife use of drainage structures under 2 sections of federal highway 2 in the Sky Island Region of Northeastern Sonora, Mexico. Air, Soil and Water Research 14, 1178622120988721.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

McClure M, Ament R (2014) Where people and wildlife intersect: prioritizing mitigation of road impacts on wildlife connectivity. p. 56. Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Bozeman, MT.

McGowan J, Beger M, Lewison RL, Harcourt R, Campbell H, Priest M, Dwyer RG, Lin H-Y, Lentini P, Dudgeon C, McMahon C, Watts M, Possingham HP (2017) Integrating research using animal-borne telemetry with the needs of conservation management. Journal of Applied Ecology 54(2), 423-429.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Ministry of Communications and Transportation (2019) Datos viales. Available at https://www.sct.gob.mx/carreteras/direccion-general-de-servicios-tecnicos/datos-viales/ [Accessed July 2021]

Moctezuma-Orozco O, Doan-Crider DL (2005) Oso negro americano. In ‘Los Mamíferos Silvestres de México’. (Eds G Ceballos, G Oliva) p. 348. (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Ciudad de México: México)

Monroy-Vilchis O, Castillo-Huitrón NM, Zarco-González MM, Rodríguez-Soto C (2016) Potential distribution of Ursus americanus in Mexico and its persistence: implications for conservation. Journal for Nature Conservation 29, 62-68.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Naimi B, Hamm NAS, Groen TA, Skidmore AK, Toxopeus AG (2014) Where is positional uncertainty a problem for species distribution modelling? Ecography 37(2), 191-203.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

NASA (2013) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Global. Distributed by OpenTopography. Available at https://doi.org/10.5069/G9445JDF [Accessed September 2021]

National Agrarian Registry (2019) Datos geográficos de las tierras de uso común, por estado - Formato SHAPE. Available at https://datos.gob.mx/busca/organization/ran [Accessed December 2019]

Nuñez-Torres M, Zarco-González MM, Monroy-Vilchis O, Carrera-Treviño R (2020) Human–black bear interactions in Northern Mexico. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 25(5), 438-451.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

R Core Team (2019) ‘R: a language and environment for statistical computing.’ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria) Available at https://www.R-project.org/

Ripple WJ, Estes JA, Beschta RL, Wilmers CC, Ritchie EG, Hebblewhite M, Berger J, Elmhagen B, Letnic M, Nelson MP, Schmitz OJ, Smith DW, Wallach AD, Wirsing AJ (2014) Status and ecological effects of the world’s largest carnivores. Science 343(6167), 1241484.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Sadleir RMFS, Linklater WL (2016) Annual and seasonal patterns in wildlife road-kill and their relationship with traffic density. New Zealand journal of Zoology 43(3), 275-291.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

SCT (2016) Manual para obtener los Volúmenes de tránsito en carreteras. p. 39. Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transporte.

SEMARNAT (2019) Modificación del anexo normativo III, lista de especies en riesgo de la norma oficial mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, protección ambiental-especies nativas de México de flora y fauna silvestres-categorías de riesgo y especificaciones para su inclusión, exclusión o cambio-lista de especies en riesgo. publicada el 30 de diciembre de 2010. Diario Oficial de la Federación. México. 14 de noviembre 2019. Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales.

Serouya R (1999) Permeability of the Trans-Canada highway to black bear movements in the Bow River Valley of Banff National Park, Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia.

Signorell A (2021) DescTools: tools for descriptive statistics. R package version 0.99.41. Available at https://cran.r-project.org/package=DescTools

Skuban M, Finďo S, Kajba M, Koreň M, Antal V (2017) Effects of roads on brown bear movements and mortality in Slovakia. European Journal Wildlife Research 63, 82.
| Google Scholar |

van der Ree R, Jaeger JAG, 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. Ecology and Society 16(1), 48.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Van Manen FT, Mccollister MF, Nicholson JM, Thompson LM, Kindall JL, Jones MD (2012) Short-term impacts of a 4-lane highway on American black bears in eastern North Carolina. Wildlife Monographs 181(1), 1-35.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Vaughan M, Kelly M, Trent JA (2011) Evaluating potential effects of widening US 64 on the black bear population of Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Dare County, North Carolina (No. FHWA/NC/2009-24). Department of Transportation. Research and Analysis Group, North Carolina.

Wang X (2014) Firth logistic regression for rare variant association tests. Frontiers in Genetics 5, 187.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

WorldPop (www.worldpop.org – School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville; Departement de Geographie, Universite de Namur) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (2018) Global High Resolution Population Denominators Project – Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1134076). Available at https://dx.doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/WP00674

Zeller KA, Wattles DW, Destefano S (2020) Evaluating methods for identifying large mammal road crossing locations: black bears as a case study. Landscape Ecology 35(8), 1799-1808.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |