Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians
International audience Transport infrastructures, such as highways, disrupt animal migrations and cause roadkill. To mitigate the latter problem, fences have been built but their effectiveness has rarely been tested under controlled conditions. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the most commonly...
Published in: | Nature Conservation |
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765/document https://hal.science/hal-03867765/file/Conan%20et%20al.%202022-Effectiveness%20of%20wire%20netting%20fences.NatureConservation202247_271-281.pdf https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 |
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-03867765v1 2023-05-15T15:56:38+02:00 Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians Conan, Antonin Fleitz, Julie Garnier, Lorène Le Brishoual, Meven Handrich, Yves Jumeau, Jonathan Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2022 https://hal.science/hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765/document https://hal.science/hal-03867765/file/Conan%20et%20al.%202022-Effectiveness%20of%20wire%20netting%20fences.NatureConservation202247_271-281.pdf https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 en eng HAL CCSD Pensoft Publishers info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765/document https://hal.science/hal-03867765/file/Conan%20et%20al.%202022-Effectiveness%20of%20wire%20netting%20fences.NatureConservation202247_271-281.pdf doi:10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess EISSN: 1314-3301 Nature Conservation https://hal.science/hal-03867765 Nature Conservation, 2022, 47, pp.271-281. ⟨10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472⟩ Amphibians fences roadkill small mammals [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2022 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 2023-03-08T01:09:15Z International audience Transport infrastructures, such as highways, disrupt animal migrations and cause roadkill. To mitigate the latter problem, fences have been built but their effectiveness has rarely been tested under controlled conditions. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the most commonly used fence in France and probably in Europe (wire netting fence) to block animals. We tested the wire netting fence, with and without a structural modification (i.e. an overhang), with three small mammalian species (the European hamster: Cricetus cricetus Linnaeus, 1758; the common vole: Microtus arvalis Pallas, 1778 & the wood mouse: Apodemus sylvaticus Linnaeus, 1758) and two amphibian species (the marsh frog: Pelophylax ridibundus Pallas, 1771 & the European green toad: Bufotes viridis Laurenti, 1768). During testing, all small vertebrate species tested were placed into an arena, from which they could only escape by crossing the wire netting fence. Without an overhang, almost all adult individuals of all tested species were able to climb over a 30 to 40 cm high wire netting fence. Furthermore, the addition of an 8 cm long overhang at the top of the fence stopped the amphibian species tested but not the most agile mammalian species, such as the hamster and the wood mouse. Based on these results, we do not support the construction of wire netting fences along roads as a measure to stop small animals from crossing. We recommend the use of more effective and durable fences, which, in addition, can be associated with wildlife passages to reconnect isolated populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Common vole Microtus arvalis Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Nature Conservation 47 271 281 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
Amphibians fences roadkill small mammals [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology |
spellingShingle |
Amphibians fences roadkill small mammals [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology Conan, Antonin Fleitz, Julie Garnier, Lorène Le Brishoual, Meven Handrich, Yves Jumeau, Jonathan Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
topic_facet |
Amphibians fences roadkill small mammals [SDE.IE]Environmental Sciences/Environmental Engineering [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology |
description |
International audience Transport infrastructures, such as highways, disrupt animal migrations and cause roadkill. To mitigate the latter problem, fences have been built but their effectiveness has rarely been tested under controlled conditions. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the most commonly used fence in France and probably in Europe (wire netting fence) to block animals. We tested the wire netting fence, with and without a structural modification (i.e. an overhang), with three small mammalian species (the European hamster: Cricetus cricetus Linnaeus, 1758; the common vole: Microtus arvalis Pallas, 1778 & the wood mouse: Apodemus sylvaticus Linnaeus, 1758) and two amphibian species (the marsh frog: Pelophylax ridibundus Pallas, 1771 & the European green toad: Bufotes viridis Laurenti, 1768). During testing, all small vertebrate species tested were placed into an arena, from which they could only escape by crossing the wire netting fence. Without an overhang, almost all adult individuals of all tested species were able to climb over a 30 to 40 cm high wire netting fence. Furthermore, the addition of an 8 cm long overhang at the top of the fence stopped the amphibian species tested but not the most agile mammalian species, such as the hamster and the wood mouse. Based on these results, we do not support the construction of wire netting fences along roads as a measure to stop small animals from crossing. We recommend the use of more effective and durable fences, which, in addition, can be associated with wildlife passages to reconnect isolated populations. |
author2 |
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Conan, Antonin Fleitz, Julie Garnier, Lorène Le Brishoual, Meven Handrich, Yves Jumeau, Jonathan |
author_facet |
Conan, Antonin Fleitz, Julie Garnier, Lorène Le Brishoual, Meven Handrich, Yves Jumeau, Jonathan |
author_sort |
Conan, Antonin |
title |
Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
title_short |
Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
title_full |
Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
title_fullStr |
Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
title_sort |
effectiveness of wire netting fences to prevent animal access to road infrastructures: an experimental study on small mammals and amphibians |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765/document https://hal.science/hal-03867765/file/Conan%20et%20al.%202022-Effectiveness%20of%20wire%20netting%20fences.NatureConservation202247_271-281.pdf https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 |
genre |
Common vole Microtus arvalis |
genre_facet |
Common vole Microtus arvalis |
op_source |
EISSN: 1314-3301 Nature Conservation https://hal.science/hal-03867765 Nature Conservation, 2022, 47, pp.271-281. ⟨10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765 https://hal.science/hal-03867765/document https://hal.science/hal-03867765/file/Conan%20et%20al.%202022-Effectiveness%20of%20wire%20netting%20fences.NatureConservation202247_271-281.pdf doi:10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.47.71472 |
container_title |
Nature Conservation |
container_volume |
47 |
container_start_page |
271 |
op_container_end_page |
281 |
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1766392029182427136 |