PUNTOS CALIENTES Y FACTORES ASOCIADOS AL ATROPELLO DE AVES RAPACES EN UNA RUTA COSTERA DE LA ZONA SEMIÁRIDA DE CHILE CENTRAL

Abstract

The pressures of road infrastructure on wildlife are among the eleven main threats to biodiversity conservation. Birds are one of the most threatened groups, mainly through direct collisions with road traffic and the fragmentation of their habitats. We characterized the assem- blage of raptors that were impacted on a coastal highway in central Chile and analyzed the possible relationship between areas with high impact density and some landscape variables. Between April 2016 and June 2017 we registered 86 raptor carcasses, nine species belonging to five different families, among which Tyto alba, Milvago chimango, and Bubo virginianus were the birds with a higher frequency of road- kills. These impacts were concentrated between February and April 2017. In the sections studied, we detected eight hot spots that included 37% of the impacts and found at least five variables related to these road kill hot spots: i) A larger surface covered with trees, ii) a small number of lighting poles, iii) sites closer to creeks, iv) road sections without curves, and v) double tracks would favor roadkills for these birds in the studied site. Additionally, collisions for the different species of raptors recorded in this study could be due to the availability of prey on the edges of the road, their foraging strategies, and the ecology of these birds, especially during breeding season.