Characterization of bone lesions and bone mineral density of roadkilled wild animals in the Brazilian semi-arid

Abstract

Highways are one of the anthropogenic factors that have the greatest impact on terrestrial biodiversity. Barriers, depletion effects, and roads are the most common locations of wild animal roadkill, leading to biodiversity loss in wild vertebrates. However, the corpses of these animals can be used as opportunistic samples, an excellent source of information on topics such as population dynamics, which is one of the aims of road ecology. Nonetheless, there are only a few studies on injuries in roadkilled wild animals. Between 2018 and 2021, road monitoring was performed around three Federal Conservation Units in Brazil. Twenty-four animals, including birds, reptiles, and mammals, were collected. This study aims to characterize the lesions in wild animals that were roadkilled on roads in the Brazilian semi-arid region using necropsy and quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Also, the bone mineral density was measured using QCT and compared with the number of lesions and body condition score. Four types of bone lesions were found in 13 different bones, with an average of 3.25 lesions per bird and 3.75 lesions per reptile and mammal, with no statistical difference between the means (p > 0.05). Providing a database on the main injuries found in wild animals that are frequently roadkilled serves as an aid to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation professionals who contribute to the conservation of species. In addition, the data on road ecology serves as a basis for the implementation of mitigation measures against wildlife roadkills, also contributing to the conservation of species.