DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qz612jmp4
title: A systematic review of global road ecology camera trap studies that monitored animals’ use of wildlife crossings in road-fragmented landscapes

description: Much research has emphasised the importance of incorporating wildlife
 crossing-structures in the design of road networks to facilitate
 connectivity of wildlife crossings in road-fragmented landscapes. Although
 camera traps have been effective in monitoring wildlife crossing
 structures, limited studies explore camera trap protocol to monitor
 wildlife use of crossing structures, particularly in Africa. Our study
 reviewed and assessed camera trap peer-reviewed research that monitored
 the use of crossing-structures by wildlife to navigate landscapes
 fragmented by roads. We found 70 camera trap peer-reviewed publications
 from 2001 to 2022 that monitored wildlife use of crossing-structures in
 landscapes intersected by roads, and these were from 22 countries and six
 continents. The included peer-reviewed studies varied significantly
 globally, with geographical trends indicating that most studies were
 conducted in North America. However, the methods used varied considerably
 between studies, especially in terms of camera trap placement protocol
 (placement height of camera trap, survey length, and camera multi-shot
 settings). This showed that camera trap usage for monitoring animal use of
 crossing structures is still an emerging area of research, and there is a
 potential for developing a standardised protocol for each type of crossing
 structure design and size. Future camera trap studies exploring wildlife
 use of crossing-structures should consider monitoring existing crossing
 structures (culverts, bridges, and tunnels) as this provides a less costly
 method of restoring landscape connectivity. We recommend that further
 research develop a standardised camera trap protocol for monitoring
 wildlife using crossing-structures to reduce the threats to biodiversity.
description: We conducted a  systematic literature search and review of
 peer-reviewed journal articles between 1 July and 1 September 2023 using
 Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.co.za/) and Semantic Scholar databases with the programme Publish or Perish (Harzing, 2022). The review comprised only peer-reviewed literature spanning the years 2001 to 2022 that examined the use of camera traps as a tool to assess the efficacy of wildlife crossing-structures as a mitigation strategy for restoring landscape connectivity and reducing wildlife-road-mortality. The search string used the following words to identify each publication: camera traps, wildlife crossings, cameras underneath underpasses, cameras under culverts, undercrossings, overcrossings, canopy bridges, crossing corridors, and connectivity. We used a Microsoft Excel© spreadsheet to collate the data from each publication.
description: This README file was generated on 2024-03-09 by Colleen T.Downs. GENERAL
 INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: A systematic review of global road
 ecology camera trap studies that monitored animals? use of wildlife
 crossings in road-fragmented landscapes 2. Author Information A. Principal
 Investigator Contact Information Name: Thabo I Hlatshwayo Institution:
 University of KwaZulu-Natal Address: Pietermaritzburg, KZN ZA Email:
 [mhayiseinnocent@gmail.com](mailto:mhayiseinnocent@gmail.com) B. Associate
 or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Colleen T. Downs Institution:
 University of KwaZulu-Natal Address: Pietermaritzburg, KZN ZA
 Email:[downs@ukzn.ac.za](mailto:downs@ukzn.ac.za) 3. Date of data
 collection (single date, range, approximate date): 1 July and 1 September
 2023 4. Geographic location of data collection: University of
 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 5. Information about funding sources that
 supported the collection of the data: University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA),
 National Research Foundation (ZA), Trans African Concessions (TRAC N4,
 ZA), Rufford Foundation (UK), Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT, ZA), Ford
 Wildlife Foundation (ZA) SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1.
 Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
 Public Domain 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data:
 Hlatshwayo, T., Zungu, M.M., Collinson-Jonker, W., Downs, C.T.
 (Forthcoming 2024). A systematic review of global road ecology camera trap
 studies that monitored animals? use of wildlife crossings in
 road-fragmented landscapes. Ecology and Evolution 1. Links to other
 publicly accessible locations of the data: None 2. Links/relationships to
 ancillary data sets: None 3. Was data derived from another source? Yes A.
 If yes, list source(s): Systematic review 4. Recommended citation for this
 dataset: Hlatshwayo, T., Zungu, M.M., Collinson-Jonker, W., Downs, C.T.
 (Forthcoming 2024). A systematic review of global road ecology camera trap
 studies that monitored animals? use of wildlife crossings in
 road-fragmented landscapes [Dataset]. Dryad.
 [https://datadryad.org/stash/share/6E1pPOCcvjGfCMg_IrebN1dAgdQVgZQ2AG8rUdnplRE](https://datadryad.org/stash/share/6E1pPOCcvjGfCMg_IrebN1dAgdQVgZQ2AG8rUdnplRE) DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: A) 2023 12d Supplementary information S1\_ Summary of road ecology camera trap publications reviews in the study 1. Relationship between files, if important: None 2. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: None 3. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: NA i. Why was the file updated? NA ii. When was the file updated? NA \######################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: 2023 12d Supplementary information S1\_ Summary of road ecology camera trap publications reviews in the study 1. Number of variables: 30 2. Number of cases/rows: 70 3. Variable List: * Reference: Authors of paper * Year: Year of study * Continent: Continent for study * Country: Country of study * Economic status: Economic status of country * Region: Region of study * Conservation priority of the area: Conservation priority of the area of study * Type of road (paved/unpaved): Type of road (paved/unpaved) in the study * Type of structure monitored:Type of structure monitored in the study * Focal species: Focal species in the study * Monitoring start date: Monitoring start date of study * Monitoring end date: Monitoring end date of study * Period of monitoring: Period of monitoring of study * Economic status: Economic status of country * Main research findings: Main research findings of study * Recommendations: Recommendations of study * Conclusions: Conclusions of study * Camera Make and Model: Camera Make and Model used in the study * Fencing design: Fencing design in the study * Height (m): Height (m) used in the study * Length (m): Length (m) used in the study * Interval delay (S): Interval delay (S) used in the study * Camera Multishot: Camera Multishot if used in study * Camera Photo / Video: Camera Photo / Video used in the study * Camera Height Placed (m): Camera Height Placed (m) in the study * Camera Mounting angle: Camera Mounting angle used in the study * Number of cameras per underpass: Number of cameras per underpass used in the study * Structure width (m): Structure width (m) used in the study * Structure height (m): Structure height (m) used in the study * Structure length (m): Structure length (m) used in the study * Notes: Further notes about the study 4. Missing data codes: NA (data not available) 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None \#########################################################################