THE ROLE OF HABITAT CONNECTIVITY ON ROAD MORTALITY OF TAWNY OWLS

Abstract

Research of habitat fragmentation has revealed a large number of constraining effects on species, which represent a central issue for wildlife conservation. In this article we address an approach based on spatial models of tawny owl Strix aluco. The habitat is assessed in relation to species density and hotspots of road casualties. The data was collected in two years surveys, in the montado habitat and casualties along 40 km of the road network. Data was used to generate a density surface and the identification of casualties‟ hotspots. The density surface and the location of mortality clusters were used to model a spatial perspective of population likelihood and mortality. The results reveal evidences of increased habitat fragmentation and casualty occurrence. The results allow us a vision of transportation infrastructure near future consequences of development and suggestions for defragmentation actions.