Abstract

Topic: Ungulate species interactions and management

Predicting the activity of moose (Alces alces) at Roadside Mineral Licks (RMLs) in north-central British Columbia, Canada: Implications for Moose-Vehicle Collisions

Beatrice Penco¹, Roy V. Rea², Chris Johnson², Marco Apollonio¹, Gayle Hesse³

Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Wildlife Collision Prevention Program, British Columbia Conservation Foundation, Prince George, Canada

Declines in biodiversity are of concern for conservation ecologists around the globe. Throughout many parts of their range, moose are among those species in decline. Direct and indirect impacts to moose populations have been linked to transportation corridors, where moose-vehicle collisions (MVCs) occur. Such collisions are dangerous to both moose and humans and, therefore, ways to mitigate such interactions are being explored by road safety experts. Determining where MVCs occur helps planners develop site-specific countermeasures for minimizing collisions. Understanding why and when moose are most likely to interact with traffic and what can be done with such information is an area requiring further research. Here, we build on long-term research being conducted in north-central British Columbia, Canada, at roadside mineral licks (RMLs). Roadside mineral licks are low-lying areas of exposed mineral soils that formed after the accumulation in roadside ditches of de-icing salts used in winter. Roadside mineral licks are regularly used by moose to supplement dietary mineral intake in spring and early summer. Use of RMLs by moose brings moose into contact with vehicles. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and data that had been collected over a 12-year period from camera traps deployed at four RMLs to test whether environmental, animal density, and temporal factors could be used to explain the timing of seasonal lick use by moose. Our findings suggest that the model driven by snowpack and spring green-up was best able to account for annual variations in the timing of peak lick use by moose and to predict when annual peaks occurred. We outline some limitations of our study and contend that more research should be directed towards understanding how important explanatory variables such as snowpack and spring green-up vary by year and are impacted by changes in climate. In the meantime, our findings provide road safety planners with tools that can help predict when moose are most likely to use RMLs and interact with traffic, allowing for the development of site- and seasonally-specific collision mitigation measures that can reduce the risk of MVCs.