RT Journal Article
T1 A review of searcher efficiency and carcass persistency in infrastructure-driven mortality assessment studies
A1 Barrientos Yuste, Rafael
A1 Martins, Ricardo
A1 Ascensão, Fernando
A1 D'Amico, Marcello
A1 Moreira, Francisco
A1 Borda-de-Agua, Luis
AB Infrastructures in natural areas are expanding rapidly worldwide. Consequently, roads, power-lines, and wind-farms cause millions of fatalities across several animal groups. Assessing the population impact of these infrastructures requires sound estimates of the total number of fatalities. These estimates can be heavily biased due to differences in searcher efficiency and carcass persistence rates, which may ultimately lead to the incorrect quantification of actual mortality, or to the inadequate prioritization of locations for mitigation. We reviewed 294 studies using carcass surveys conducted worldwide and performed analyses on the effects of variables potentially influencing searcher efficiency and carcass persistence rates. Our analytical review, including the largest number of studies to date, the use of multivariate approaches, and the study weighting by sample size, contradicts some previous findings. Whereas body mass is confirmed as the most important variable accounting for both biases, equally important was the use of dogs in searches, as they increased searcher efficiency for small carcasses, and the taxon of carcasses for persistence, as mammals persisted at higher rates than birds and the latter at higher rates than amphibians. Our results provide little support for previous ideas on the influence of the use of domestic or thawed carcasses on persistence rates. Our findings contribute to synthesizing knowledge on the main factors affecting the two main mortality biases across carcass field experiments, and suggest recommendations for improving survey designs in future studies to minimize the biases identified.
PB Elsevier
SN 0006-3217
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/94956
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/94956
LA eng
NO Barrientos, Rafael, et al. «A Review of Searcher Efficiency and Carcass Persistence in Infrastructure-Driven Mortality Assessment Studies». Biological Conservation, vol. 222, junio de 2018, pp. 146-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.04.014.
NO Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
NO Infraestructuras de Portugal
NO Universidad de Alcalá
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025