Do small mammals exhibit road aversion?
McGregor, Rachelle*,1, Fahrig, Lenore1, 1 Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada ABSTRACT- We hypothesize that small mammals exhibit road aversion and do not attempt to cross roads. We predicted animals that avoid roads should demonstrate two characteristics: they will not include roads in their home range and will turn back from roads (i.e., make U turns) when traveling through forested habitat. To test whether small mammals include roads within their home ranges, we established a mark-recapture protocol using three trapping grids: two adjacent to but on opposite sides of the road, and one farther into the same forest as one of the other grids. We found no difference in small mammal densities between grids adjacent to roads and those more interior (p = 0.56).
