Experimental Observation and Analysis of Traffic Impact on Tibetan Antelopes on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway

Highways that cross natural reserves are an intrusion with a nonnegligible negative impact on the behavior of wild animals and have numerous and diverse ecological impacts on wildlife near road areas. Field experiments were carried out to collect traffic flow data on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China, and the behavior of the Tibetan antelope crossing the highway was observed. The relationships between the percentage of antelopes successfully crossing the highway and the different traffic flows were analyzed. The results demonstrate that the traffic volume is the main factor affecting the success rate of Tibetan antelopes when crossing the highway, displaying a nonlinear negative correlation. Furthermore, the behavioral responses of the Tibetan antelopes within 500 m of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway before and after different parking behaviors were observed and the proportions of the different behaviors exhibited by the Tibetan antelopes affected by different driver parking behaviors were analyzed. Parking behaviors were found to have the most significant effect on Tibetan antelope behavior within 400 m of the highway, where parking with somebody getting out having the most prominent impact. The results of this study can guide engineering measures to protect wildlife in the plateau region.

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