Papers by Fernanda Teixeira
Tropical Conservation Science, 2016
The ongoing expansion of the transportation network is one of the most important threats to tropi... more The ongoing expansion of the transportation network is one of the most important threats to tropical ecosystems. In recent years, the Brazilian government is making huge investments in paving and upgrading of the existing road network. It is therefore crucial time to consider how to achieve mitigation of two main road impacts: wildlife mortality and isolation. We discuss the improvement of road ecology research and environmental impact assessments, and recommend the integration of both as a way to achieve effective mitigation. Research oriented toward practical needs is likely to increase use of road ecology in decisions about the impacts of roads and traffic, including the environmental licensing of roads. Well-planned, focused assessments can effectively influence road planning. However, merely improving environmental assessments and research will not be enough to make environmental licensing more effective: there is a need for integration among professions involved in road construction, biodiversity management and conservation for better regulations and enforcement.
Sustentabilidade em Debate
Environmental system modeling and landscape management
Biology Letters
Roads and traffic impacts on wildlife populations are well documented. Three major mechanisms can... more Roads and traffic impacts on wildlife populations are well documented. Three major mechanisms can cause them: reduced connectivity, increased mortality and reduced habitat quality. Researchers commonly recommend mitigation based on the mechanism they deem responsible. We reviewed the 2012–2016 literature to evaluate authors' inferences, to determine whether they explicitly acknowledge all possible mechanisms that are consistent with their results. We found 327 negative responses of wildlife to roads, from 307 studies. While most (84%) of these responses were consistent with multiple mechanisms, 60% of authors invoked a single mechanism. This indicates that many authors are over-confident in their inferences, and that the literature does not allow estimation of the relative importance of the mechanisms. We found preferences in authors' discussion of mechanisms. When all three mechanisms were consistent with the response measured, authors were 2.4 and 2.9 times as likely to in...
Ecology, Jan 19, 2018
Mortality from collision with vehicles is the most visible impact of road traffic on wildlife. Mo... more Mortality from collision with vehicles is the most visible impact of road traffic on wildlife. Mortality due to roads (hereafter road-kill) can affect the dynamic of populations of many species and can, therefore, increase the risk of local decline or extinction. This is especially true in Brazil, where plans for road network upgrading and expansion overlaps biodiversity hotspot areas, which are of high importance for global conservation. Researchers, conservationists and road planners face the challenge to define a national strategy for road mitigation and wildlife conservation. The main goal of this dataset is a compilation of geo-referenced road-kill data from published and unpublished road surveys. This is the first Data Paper in the BRAZIL series (see ATLANTIC, NEOTROPICAL, and BRAZIL collections of Data Papers published in Ecology), which aims make public road-kill data for species in the Brazilian Regions. The dataset encompasses road-kill records from 45 personal communicati...
The Science of the total environment, Jan 15, 2018
Understanding road-kill patterns is the first step to assess the potential effects of road mortal... more Understanding road-kill patterns is the first step to assess the potential effects of road mortality on wildlife populations, as well as to define the need for mitigation and support its planning. Reptiles are one of the vertebrate groups most affected by roads through vehicle collisions, both because they are intentionally killed by drivers, and due to their biological needs, such as thermoregulation, which make them more prone to collisions. We conducted monthly road surveys (33months), searching for carcasses of freshwater turtles, lizards, and snakes on a 277-km stretch of BR-101 road in Southernmost Brazil to estimate road-kill composition and magnitude and to describe the main periods and locations of road-kills. We modeled the distribution of road-kills in space according to land cover classes and local traffic volume. Considering the detection capacity of our method and carcass persistence probability, we estimated that 15,377 reptiles are road-killed per year (55reptiles/km...
Para conservar espécies ameaçadas de extinção é necessário conhecer a sua área de distribuição. O... more Para conservar espécies ameaçadas de extinção é necessário conhecer a sua área de distribuição. O bugio-ruivo, primata endêmico da Mata Atlântica, é considerado vulnerável à extinção no Rio Grande do Sul, devido à redução de seu hábitat. Este projeto tem como objetivo identificar a distribuição do bugio-ruivo na região centro-sul de Porto Alegre. Esta região possui remanescentes florestais preservados, que estão ameaçados devido à forte pressão da urbanização. Nas saídas de campo são utilizadas cartas do município em escalas 1:50.000 e 1:5.000 divididas em quadrículas de 25ha, que correspondem às unidades amostrais. Todas as quadrículas com mata são vistoriadas por varredura. A ocorrência do bugio-ruivo é constatada através da presença de fezes ou pela visualização dos animais. Até o momento, 114 quadrículas foram vistoriadas, incluindo os morros Agudo, Tapera, Pedra Redonda e os bairros Lomba do Pinheiro e Belém Velho. Em 23 dessas quadrículas foi constatada a presença do bugio, sendo 19 no bairro Lomba do Pinheiro e quatro no Belém Velho. Foram realizados testes de associação comparando a ocorrência do bugio-ruivo com algumas variáveis ambientais, como a porcentagem de cobertura florestal na quadrícula, contigüidade da mata com a mata das quadrículas vizinhas e a continuidade da mata dentro da quadrícula. Não houve
A proximidade humana com espécies silvestres tem sido a principal causa de conflitos entre pessoa... more A proximidade humana com espécies silvestres tem sido a principal causa de conflitos entre pessoas e bugios-ruivos. No intuito de identificar as ameaças à espécie, desde 1999, cada ocorrência com intervenção do Programa Macacos Urbanos (PMU) vem sendo registrada em protocolos onde são descritas todas as etapas de manejo. Essa sistematização de ações está contribuindo na ampliação do banco de dados da espécie com informações que qualificam as ações de manejo para conservação do bugio-ruivo e demonstra a importância das parcerias para viabilizar a continuidade do trabalho, reduzindo, assim, o número de animais mortos ou encaminhados a cativeiros.
van der Ree/Handbook of Road Ecology, 2015
A maior ameaça à diversidade biológica é a perda de hábitat, sendo o processo de fragmentação res... more A maior ameaça à diversidade biológica é a perda de hábitat, sendo o processo de fragmentação responsável pelo isolamento de populações e pela maior exposição destas às alterações antrópicas da paisagem do entorno. Esse panorama representa a situação das populações de bugio-ruivo (Cabrera, 1940) na região metropolitana de Porto Alegre, onde as populações ocorrem em manchas de hábitat inseridas em uma matriz com diferentes graus de urbanização. Na região, encontram-se duas Unidades de Conservação consideradas como importantes refúgios para as populações locais de bugio-ruivo: o Parque Estadual de Itapuã e a Reserva Biológica do Lami José Lutzenberger. A fragmentação gerada pela urbanização e a falta da continuidade florestal no entorno das UCs, obriga os animais a utilizarem formas alternativas de deslocamento, expondo-os a maiores riscos. Considerando que o movimento do animal entre manchas de hábitat depende da permeabilidade da matriz, o objetivo deste projeto foi identificar as p...
Biota Neotropica, 2013
The effects of habitat fragmentation and deforestation are exacerbated by some elements, such as ... more The effects of habitat fragmentation and deforestation are exacerbated by some elements, such as roads and power lines, which may become filters or barriers to wildlife movements. In order to mitigate mortality and restore connectivity, wildlife passages are being constructed as linear corridors. The installation of these mitigation measures must be followed by systematic monitoring, in order to evaluate their use and effectiveness, to assist in their management, and to convince stakeholders of their value. In this paper we present the results of a monitoring study of the use of rope overpasses developed near a protected area in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. The canopy bridges were installed by the Urban Monkeys Program in places where electric hazards and road-kills of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans Cabrera, 1940) were recorded. Camera traps were installed at each bridge, and local people were selected and trained to monitor overpass use over 15 months, from Augu...
Journal of Environmental Management, 2012
Mortality from road-kills may figure among the important causes of decline in amphibian populatio... more Mortality from road-kills may figure among the important causes of decline in amphibian populations and species extinctions worldwide. Evaluation of the magnitude, composition, and temporal and spatial distributions of amphibian road-kills is a key step for mitigation planning, especially in peri-urban reserves. Once a month for 16 months, we surveyed, on foot, a 4.4 km section of state road ERS-389 bordering the Itapeva reserve in the southern Atlantic Forest. We recorded 1433 anuran road-kills and estimated a mortality rate of 9002 road-kills/km/year. The species most often recorded were the largest ones: Leptodactylus latrans, Rhinella icterica, Leptodactylus gracilis and Hypsiboas faber; 54.5% of the carcasses could not be identified. Anuran mortality was concentrated in summer, and was associated with temperature, rainfall and photoperiod. Leptodactylus road-kills were strongly influenced by vehicle traffic, probably because of its high abundance during the entire study period. Road-kill hotspots differed for anurans as a group and for single species, and we found an association among spatial patterns of mortality and types of land cover, distance from the nearest waterbody, roadside ditches, and artificial light. Traffic should be banned temporarily during periods of high mortality, which can be forecasted based on meteorological data. A comprehensive mitigation approach should take into account hotspots of all anuran records, and also of target species for selecting locations for amphibian passages and fencing. Roadside ditches, artificial waterbodies, and conventional street lights should be reduced as much as possible, since they may represent ecological traps for anuran populations.
Iheringia. Série Zoologia, 2010
Human interventions in natural environments are the main cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. Th... more Human interventions in natural environments are the main cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. The situation is not different in southern Brazil, home of five primate species. Although some earlier studies exist, studies on the primates of this region began to be consistently carried out in the 1980s and have continued since then. In addition to important initiatives to study and protect the highly endangered Leontopithecus caissara Lorrini & Persson, 1990 and Brachyteles arachnoides E. Geoffroy, 1806, other species, including locally threatened ones, have been the focus of research, management, and protection initiatives. Since 1993, the urban monkeys program (PMU, Programa Macacos Urbanos) has surveyed the distribution and assessed threats to populations of Alouatta guariba clamitans (Cabrera, 1940) in Porto Alegre and vicinity. PMU has developed conservation strategies on four fronts: (1) scientific research on biology and ecology, providing basic knowledge to support all other a...
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Papers by Fernanda Teixeira