What’s the deal with road kill?

The United States has 6.5 million kilometers of public roads that are used by approximately 255 million vehicles annually. Road corridors cover approximately 1% of the surface of the United States. Unfortunately, the ecological impacts extend well beyond these actual road surfaces. A minimum of 19% of the terrestrial United States is directly affected by roads, and 22% of the United States appears to be ecologically altered by our road network. Roads alter species interactions, animal behavior, soil characteristics, hydrology, and vegetative cover.

Road-associated Mortality

Roads and vehicles can have profound impacts on the abundance and distribution of organisms. Road kill is the most obvious direct effect of roads upon wildlife. Wildlife-vehicle collisions precede the advent of automobiles and continue to be an issue of concern to this day. This problem is growing in scope, with an estimated one million vertebrates (or animals with backbones) per day killed on roads in the United States. This puts vehicle-animal collisions above hunting as a mortality source for terrestrial vertebrates.

Citizen Science

“Citizen Science” is a relatively new term for an old idea: people who are not full-time scientists doing science. Anyone who is interested in observing the world around them with a quantitative eye is a potential scientist. The increasing power and affordability of various technologies (such as this smart phone in your hand) and access to high quality training and information in the form of guide books, web-based tutorials, and discussion groups is making it easier and easier for anyone to collect high quality data useful for testing hypotheses and improving our understanding of our world. This is all happening at a time when the need for such information is growing exponentially. Humanity’s footprint has grown to the extent that we are now threatening the very fabric of our living world. Documenting this impact and finding effective and equitable solutions is a too big a job for full-time scientists. Never before has Citizen Science been more helpful or more needed. And it can all start for you by downloading this app.

Why an iPhone app?

We need your help! By downloading this app and using it even only occasionally, you are helping us better understand how many animals die along our roads and where and when road kill is likely to happen in the future. This information in turn will aid researchers, planners, and elected officials as well as local, state, and federal agencies seeking to improve public safety and minimize harm to wildlife.