Interspecific variation in wildlife hazards to aircraft: Implications for airport wildlife management

Abstract

Background 70% of all wildlife strikes with aircraft occur atft, where management at the airport can be effective. At least 415 bird and 35 terrestrial mammal species were struck by aircraft from 1990-2009. Overall, 14% of all strikes with birds and 61% of all strikes with mammals caused some damage. But, the severity and probability of damage is species-specific. To better prioritize management (e.g., habitat management, land-use planning, non-lethal dispersal), an improved understanding of which species are most hazardous is needed. Research questions Which species are most hazardous? That is, which species are most likely to cause some type of damage to the aircraft when struck? How do body mass, body density, and flocking behavior contribute to hazard level? Building on previous research Dolbeer, R.A., S.E. Wright, and E.C. Cleary. 2000. Ranking the hazard level of wildlife species to aviation. Wildlife Society Bulletin 28:372-378. ~18,000 records in the database 21 wildlife species/groups considered Dolbeer, R.A., and S.E. Wright. 2009. Safety management systems: How useful will the FAA National Wildlife Strike Database be? Human-Wildlife Conflicts 3:167-178. Did not use a composite hazard score Zakrajsek, E.J., and J.A. Bissonette. 2005. Ranking the risk of wildlife species hazardous to military aircraft. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:258-264. Used the number of damaging strikes and cost as criteria Methods Used FAA National Wildlife Strike Database records: 1990-2009 99,411 total strikes Summarized strikes for 77 species or groups with ≥20 records Only used strikes ≤500 ft AGL (in the airport environment) Reduced sample size to 23,503 reports Variables used in ranking % of strikes with damage % of strikes with substantial damage % of strikes with effect on flight (EOF) Species were ranked and a relative hazard score was calculated For birds, we assessed effects of body mass, body density, and group size on relative hazard score