Koala road kills are linked to landscape attributes on Central Queensland’s Peak Downs Highway
Alistair Melzer A * and Leif Black A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Koala Research-CQ, School of Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
Australian Mammalogy 44(3) 319-327 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM21018
Submitted: 25 May 2021 Accepted: 6 November 2021 Published: 31 January 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) road kills occur frequently along the Peak Downs highway through the Clarke-Connors ranges. Highway upgrades allowed mitigation of koala-vehicle collision frequency while maintaining koala population connectivity. This project aimed to understand road kill distribution to inform protective infrastructure investment. Koala road kills were associated with: (1) streams and associated alluvia where the dominant vegetation included Eucalyptus tereticornis and E. platyphylla; (2) ridges supporting E. drepanophylla open forest/woodland abutting streams or alluvia; and (3) mid-lower slopes, dominated by E. drepanophylla that were dissected by minor streams fringed by E. tereticornis ± E. platyphylla. Road kills did not occur in E. drepanophylla open forest/woodland on ridge upper slopes, crests or on hills, although koalas occur in this landscape. Explaining why koala road kills are linked to landscape features requires investigation. It is likely that: (1) landscape elements associated with drainage lines, alluvia and E. tereticornis support a relatively high koala abundance, and hence the road kill risk is correspondingly higher; and (2) the engineered road architecture and road verge characteristics in these landscape elements are conducive to koalas crossing the road.
Keywords: hotspots, Phascolarctos cinereus, road kill cluster, highway protective infrastructure, koala-vehicle collision, mitigation measures, Peak Downs Highway, landscape analysis.
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