Evaluating bird collision risk of a high-speed railway crossing the habitat of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) in Qinling Mountains, China

摘要: Bird collisions with high-speed transport modes is a vital topic on vehicle safety and wildlife protection, especially when trains, an average speed of 250km/h, have to run across the habitat endangered bird species. This paper evaluates bird-train collision risk associated recent railway project in Qinling Mountains, China, for crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) other local Using line transect surveys walking monitoring techniques, we surveyed population abundance, spatial-temporal distributions, bridge-crossing behaviors birds study area. The results show that: (1) egret were two most abundant waterfowl species RAI these about 43.69% 42.91%, respectively; (2) Crested ibises overall closer bridge. 91.63% them firstly detected within range 0m 25m vicinity bridge; (3) ratio between crossing over under bridge was 7:3. found prefer fly (89.29% total activities observed this species). Egrets more likely cross below bridge, they accounted 60.27% observations We recommend that, while could be low, barrier-like structures, such as fences, should still considered promote conservation multiple provides practical case ecology studies China. To our best knowledge, first that takes protecting one top priorities, exemplifies nationwide initiative towards construction "eco-civilization" country.