The Role of Landscape in the Distribution of Deer-Vehicle Collisions in South Mississippi

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Southeastern Geographer

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1353/sgo.2012.0020· OSTI ID:1055061

McKee, Jacob J ^[1]; Cochran, David ^[2]

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1. ORNL
2. University of Southern Mississippi, The

Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) have a negative impact on the economy, traffic safety, and the general well-being of otherwise healthy deer. To mitigate DVCs, it is imperative to gain a better understanding of factors that play a role in their spatial distribution. Much of the existing research on DVCs in the United States has been inconclusive, pointing to a variety of causal factors that seem more specific to study site and region than indicative of broad patterns. Little DVC research has been conducted in the southern United States, making the region particularly important with regard to this issue. In this study, we evaluate landscape factors that contributed to the distribution of 347 DVCs that occurred in Forrest and Lamar Counties of south Mississippi, from 2006 to 2009. Using nearest-neighbor and discriminant analysis, we demonstrate that DVCs in south Mississippi are not random spatial phenomena. We also develop a classification model that identified seven landscape metrics, explained 100% of the variance, and could distinguish DVCs from control sites with an accuracy of 81.3 percent.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Center for Computational Sciences
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1055061
• Journal Information: Southeastern Geographer, Journal Name: Southeastern Geographer Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 52; ISSN 1549-6929
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs)
GIS
landscape
mitigation
white-tailed deer