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Behavioral Traits and Airport Type Affect Mammal Incidents with U.S. Civil Aircraft

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Abstract

Wildlife incidents with aircraft cost the United States (U.S.) civil aviation industry >US$1.4 billion in estimated damages and loss of revenue from 1990 to 2009. Although terrestrial mammals represented only 2.3 % of wildlife incidents, damage to aircraft occurred in 59 % of mammal incidents. We examined mammal incidents (excluding bats) at all airports in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database from 1990 to 2010 to characterize these incidents by airport type: Part-139 certified (certificated) and general aviation (GA). We also calculated relative hazard scores for species most frequently involved in incidents. We found certificated airports had more than twice as many incidents as GA airports. Incidents were most frequent in October (n = 215 of 1,764 total) at certificated airports and November (n = 111 of 741 total) at GA airports. Most (63.2 %) incidents at all airports (n = 1,523) occurred at night but the greatest incident rate occurred at dusk (177.3 incidents/hr). More incidents with damage (n = 1,594) occurred at GA airports (38.6 %) than certificated airports (19.0 %). Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) incidents incurred greatest (92.4 %) damage costs (n = 326; US$51.8 million) overall and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) was the most hazardous species. Overall, relative hazard score increased with increasing log body mass. Frequency of incidents was influenced by species relative seasonal abundance and behavior. We recommend airport wildlife officials evaluate the risks mammal species pose to aircraft based on the hazard information we provide and consider prioritizing management strategies that emphasize reducing their occurrence on airport property.

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Acknowledgments

Our work was supported by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture and Forest and Wildlife Research Center at Mississippi State University; United States Department of Agriculture; and the FAA under agreement DTFACT-04-X-90003. Opinions expressed in this study do not necessarily reflect current FAA policy decisions regarding the control of wildlife on or near airports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Kristin B. Schwarz & Guiming Wang

  2. Carnivore Ecology Laboratory, Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Jerrold L. Belant

  3. Agricultural Ecology and Carnivore Ecology Labs, Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    James A. Martin

  4. USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Ohio Field Station, 6100 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, OH, 44870, USA

    Travis L. DeVault

  5. 1139 Marie Street, Tupelo, MS, USA

    Kristin B. Schwarz

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  1. Kristin B. Schwarz
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  2. Jerrold L. Belant
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  4. Travis L. DeVault
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Correspondence to Kristin B. Schwarz.

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Schwarz, K.B., Belant, J.L., Martin, J.A. et al. Behavioral Traits and Airport Type Affect Mammal Incidents with U.S. Civil Aircraft. Environmental Management 54, 908–918 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0345-4

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