Several researchers have evaluated impacts of highways. These can involve landscape aspects, soil degradation, air pollution, and impacts upon wildlife, such as roadkills. At the Raimundo Mascarenhas highway, that crosses the Carajás National Forest (ca. 400.000 ha), there is intense traffic of automotive vehicles. The aim of this work was to test if there were differences among higway sections on three spatial scales; if there was alteration along the years; if some taxa suffered more frequently roadkills; and if roadkill frequency increased with monthly precipitation. We analysed roadkill frequency of vertebrates from April/2003 to Octobre/2006 along the first 25 km of the highway. We registered 155 roadkills. The number of roadkills diminished along the years (P=0,01), and with distance from the beginning of the highway (P=0,0002). Snakes (Ophidia) and opossum Didelphis marsupialis presented higher roadkill numbers (7,5/year), followed by birds (Aves), crab-eating fox Cerdocyon thous, coati Nasua nasua, rodents (Rodentia), and non identified (4,9/year); opossum Marmosops sp., brazilian rabbit Sylvilagus brasiliensis, black howler monkey Alouatta sp., tayra Eira barbara, tortoise Geochelone sp., lizards (Lacertilia) e capuchin monkey Cebus apella (1/year). There was no significant relation between monthly roadkill numbers and monthly precipitation.
Environmental impact; wildlife fauna; Amazon; traffic; automotive vehicles
