Amphibian mitigation measures on Hungarian roads: design, efficiency, problems and possible improvement, need for a co-ordinated European environmental education strategy

Published source details Puky M. & Vogel Z. (2003) Amphibian mitigation measures on Hungarian roads: design, efficiency, problems and possible improvement, need for a co-ordinated European environmental education strategy. Pages 53-54 in: Proceedings of the IENE conference on habitat fragmentation due to transportation infrastructure. 13-15 November, 2003, Brussels. IENE, Brussels.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Install culverts or tunnels as road crossings Action Link

Install culverts or tunnels as road crossings

A replicated study in 1998 of 38 amphibian tunnels at 16 sites, two game bridges and five game passages in northern Hungary (Puky & Vogel 2003) found that 11 amphibian species used the passageways. Some of the passageways were used successfully and others had efficiency below 25%. Problems were considered to include improper design, gaps between the fence and entrance and lack of fencing or maintenance. Population estimates suggested that the mitigation measures helped 1 million to 5 million amphibians across roads annually. Tunnels were circular or square, made of concrete or metal and had diameters of 0.6–1.0 m. Concrete or mesh fences (0.5–0.7 m high) were present in 80% of cases. Day and night road transects were undertaken during spring and summer to count live and dead amphibians. Population sizes in neighbouring habitats were estimated using visual encounter surveys, torching and netting, acoustic surveys and transect counts.