TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Elevated wildlife-vehicle collision rates during the COVID-19 pandemic
JO  - Scientific reports
A1  - Abraham, Joel O.
A1  - Mumma, Matthew A.
SP  - e20391
EP  - e20391
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
N2  - Wildlife-vehicle collisions threaten both humans and wildlife, but we still lack information about the relationship between traffic volume and wildlife-vehicle collisions. The COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to investigate the effects of traffic volume on wildlife-vehicle collisions in the United States. We observed decreased traffic nationwide, particularly in densely populated states with low or high disease burdens. Despite reduced traffic, total collisions were unchanged; wildlife-vehicle collisions did decline at the start of the pandemic, but increased as the pandemic progressed, ultimately exceeding collisions in the previous year. As a result, nationwide collision rates were higher during the pandemic. We suggest that increased wildlife road use offsets the effects of decreased traffic volume on wildlife-vehicle collisions. Thus, decreased traffic volume will not always reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.    Keywords: CoViD-19-Road-Traffic <p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2045-2322
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99233-9
ID  - ref1
ER  -