Drainage culverts as a measure to avoid mammal roadkills in Costa Rica: the case of Dasyprocta punctata

Abstract

Wildlife passages are structures that connect habitats, populations and reduce wildlife mortality. In places with no road mitigation, wildlife can resort to using underground structures called drainage culverts to prevent direct road-crossing.  To determine which mammal species generally benefit from these structures, we placed camera traps in 6 drainage culverts and compare the number of road-killed species by vehicle tours along a 30 km segment of the North Inter-American Highway in Costa Rica.  We detected 14 mammal species using drainage culverts as wildlife passages.  The Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) showed the highest number of records.  The absence of D. punctata roadkill records and the high culvert use rates suggests that these structures may be effective in roadkill mitigation for this species, allowing them to cross safely from one forest patch to another.