How animal movement influences wildlife vehicle collision risk

A mathematical framework for range-resident species

movement ecology
road ecology
wildlife-vehicle collisions
Authors
Affiliations

Benjamin Garcia de Figueiredo

Universidade Estadual Paulista

Inês Silva

Center for Advanced Systems Understanding

Michael Noonan

University of British Columbia Okanagan

Christen Fleming

University of Central Florida

William Fagan

University of Maryland

Justin Calabrese

Center for Advanced Systems Understanding

Ricardo Martinez-Garcia

Center for Advanced Systems Understanding

Published

August 1, 2025

Doi

Abstract

Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) threaten both biodiversity and human safety worldwide. Despite empirical efforts to characterize the major determinants of WVC risk and optimize mitigation strategies, we still lack a theoretical framework linking traffic, landscape, and individual movement features to collision risk. Here, we introduce such a framework by leveraging recent advances in movement ecology and reaction-diffusion stochastic processes with partially absorbing boundaries. Focusing on range-resident terrestrial mammals – responsible for most fatal WVCs – we model interactions with a single linear road and derive exact expressions for key survival statistics, including mean collision time and road-induced lifespan reduction. These quantities are expressed in terms of measurable parameters, such as traffic intensity or road width, and movement parameters that can be robustly estimated from relocation data, such as home-range crossing times, home-range sizes, or distance between home-range center and road. Therefore, our work provides an effective theoretical framework integrating movement and road ecology, laying the foundation for data-driven, evidence-based strategies to mitigate WVCs and promote safer, more sustainable transportation networks.

Citation

@article{de2025animal,
  title={How animal movement influences wildlife-vehicle collision risk: a mathematical framework for range-resident species},
  author={de Figueiredo, Benjamin Garcia and Silva, In{\^e}s and Noonan, Michael J and Fleming, Christen H and Fagan, William F and Calabrese, Justin M and Martinez-Garcia, Ricardo},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.17058},
  year={2025}
}

de Figueiredo, B. G., Silva, I., Noonan, M. J., Fleming, C. H., Fagan, W. F., Calabrese, J. M., & Martinez-Garcia, R. (2025). How animal movement influences wildlife-vehicle collision risk: a mathematical framework for range-resident species. arXiv. DOI: arXiv:2507.17058

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