Install underpasses beneath ski runs

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    50%
  • Certainty
    30%
  • Harms
    0%

Study locations

Key messages

  • One study evaluated the effects on mammals of installing underpasses beneath ski runs. This study was in Australia.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

BEHAVIOUR (1 STUDY)

  • Use (1 study): A replicated study in Australia found that boulder-filled crossings beneath ski slopes were used by seven small mammal species.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated study in 2009–2013 in a woodland, heath, and grassland site in New South Wales, Australia (Schroder & Sato 2017) found that boulder-filled crossings beneath ski slopes were used by small mammals. Seven mammal species were detected using crossings. From 131 detections where mammals were identified to species, the most frequent were bush rat Rattus fuscipes (62 detections), broad-toothed rat Mastacomys fuscus (35 detection), dusky antechinus Antechinus swainsonii (21 detections) and black rat Rattus rattus (10 detections). Eight boulder-filled crossings were constructed under ski runs on grass slopes of a ski area that operated in June–September. Crossings linked remnant heath or woodland. Crossings comprised trenches, 0.4–2.4 m deep, 1–9 m wide, 12–79 m long and filled with rocks of 0.2–2 m diameter. Mammal passage was monitored using hair tubes every 3–6 m (4–13 tubes/crossing). Most crossings were surveyed biannually (7 days in each March–April and November–December) from March 2009 to April 2013.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Littlewood, N.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K., Martin, P.A., Lockhart, S.L., Schoonover, R.F., Wilman, E., Bladon, A.J., Sainsbury, K.A., Pimm S. and Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Terrestrial Mammal Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions for terrestrial mammals excluding bats and primates. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

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Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation
Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation - Published 2020

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

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