Assessing the feasibility of identifying individual mammals by fecal DNA analysis to evaluate the environmental impacts of a road

Abstract

This study aimed to verify whether the identification of individual mammals using fecal DNA could be used to assess the environmental impacts of a road. We selected the Japanese hare, Lepus brachyurus, as target species for the DNA analysis. A total of 36 hares (28 males and 8 females) were identified from 344 fecal samples, and 4hares of them has crossed both sides of the road. I suggested that the individual identi- fication method by fecal DNA would be applicable to difficult-to-capture mammals, herbivorous mammals and more sedentary mammals around the road.