Impact of Roads on Animal Populations
Nature Talk
Thursday, February 20th
Dr. Trina Rytwinski
Canadian Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation and Carleton University
Can roads and/or traffic reduce or even eliminate a population, and how?
Thursday, February 20th, the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists continues its 2019-2020 speaker series, “Over, Under and Through – A Closer Look at Nature” with Dr. Trina Rytwinski.
Dr. Rytwinski is a project manager with the Canadian Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation and also a Research Associate and Instructor in the Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Sciences at Carleton University. She has carried out numerous theoretical and applied research projects on understanding how roads and more broadly, anthropogenic impacts, affect wildlife populations involving a wide range of organisms including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes and mussels. She has expertise in road and landscape ecology, and evidence synthesis.
There is growing evidence that roads and traffic reduce populations of many species and efforts to mitigate road effects are now common. To maximise understanding of road impacts and for conservation of particular species, we need to know how roads affect the viability of a group of individuals of the species (i.e., the population) rather than a single individual.
To address this question, Trina has been trying to understand the circumstances in which roads and traffic affect wildlife populations. In particular, her research has focused on looking at species traits and their behavioural responses to roads, to determine which species or species groups are most vulnerable to road impacts. Further to this, Trina and a group of international colleagues are also determining ways to best mitigate road effects.
Trina will present results from her graduate and post-doctoral research on this topic, including results from field surveys using foot print tracking for a wide range of mammal species in eastern Ontario, a quantitative review of population level effects of roads from studies across the globe and on multiple taxa (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles), and reviews of the effectiveness of current road mitigation measures in reducing road impacts.
Date: Thursday, February 20, 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m. for socializing & refreshments, 7:30 for program
Place: Almonte United Church Social Hall, 106 Elgin St., Almonte
Admission is free for MVFN members (check your membership card). There is an admission fee of $5 for non-members. No charge for youth 18 and under. We always welcome new members.
We hope to see you there!
