Temporal pattern of wildlife‐train collisions in Poland

• Published in: The Journal of Wildlife Management
• Main Authors: Krauze‐Gryz, Dagny, Żmihorski, Michał, Jasińska, Karolina, Kwaśny, Łukasz, Werka, Joanna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Alces alces
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21311; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjwmg.21311; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jwmg.21311

ABSTRACT The development and modernization of railway infrastructures in many countries has increased the frequency of wildlife‐train collisions. Our objective was to describe the temporal pattern of train accidents related to wild ungulates (i.e., roe deer [ Capreolus capreolus ], red deer [ Cervus elaphus ], moose [ Alces alces ], and wild boar [ Sus scrofa ]) to determine when the risk of collision is highest. We gathered data on train collisions with wild ungulates throughout Poland between 2012 and 2015 from Polish Railways Polskie Koleje Państwowe SA. We used generalized additive mixed models to investigate whether the number of collisions changed over time. The number of wildlife‐train collisions varied depending on time of year. Most collisions occurred in autumn when animals form winter herds and migrate to and stay in winter refugia. The fewest collisions occurred in summer during breeding season. For all species except red deer, the number of collisions was significantly lower during weekends compared to weekdays. The distribution of collisions with regard to time of day was significantly different from simulated uniform random distribution, with peaks before dawn and after dusk, which reflect activity peaks of ungulates. During the day, the probability of collision was lower, with only single events observed between 0800 and 1600. We observed another collision‐free period after midnight until 0400, probably because train traffic was minimal during this period. Most train collisions with ungulates took place in relatively narrow time windows in terms of time of year and time of day (i.e., 50% of the recorded cases took place in ∼17% of the total time observed). Consequently, mitigation measures of lowering speed limits can be applied during times when the risk of collision is highest. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.