Community-informed and codesigned research to understand the impacts of railways on wildlife

Trains cause mortalities of several animal species, but the ecological impacts of railways are understudied. Most research on wildlife-train collisions has focused on large mammals, but understanding railway-specific risks for underrepresented taxa, especially vulnerable species, is important for developing effective mitigation strategies. Based on the concerns and interests of 2 Anishinaabek communities-Shawanaga First Nation (SFN) and Magnetawan First Nation (MFN)-we collaboratively aimed to fill knowledge gaps with a community-informed approach in which Indigenous knowledge (IK) and Western science were used to investigate wildlife interactions with railways bisecting the 2 Traditional Territories in Ontario, Canada. To inform study design, First Nation community members were invited to share knowledge concerning wildlife-railway impacts in semistructured interviews. Weekly walking surveys were conducted in 3 field seasons along two 3.6-km sections of railway in SFN and MFN during which locations of all wildlife observed alive or dead were recorded. We also deployed game cameras at 500-m intervals along the railway survey areas. On walking surveys, we recorded 462 observations of individuals from 42 species, of which 76% were found dead. These findings complemented the shared IK that railways affect a wide variety of wildlife, often causing mortalities. Reptiles and amphibians were the most severely affected taxa, accounting for 87% of observed mortalities. Seven species at risk of extinction interacted with the railway, including 3 turtle species and one snake species, all of which were found dead on the railway tracks. Cameras recorded 43 wildlife species; most detections were of large and medium mammals, suggesting they frequently interact with the railway but may face lower mortality risks than herpetofauna in our study area. Ultimately, our study highlights the holistic outcomes that are possible through collaborative research that embraces complementary knowledge systems and indicates that reptile and amphibian populations may be particularly susceptible to railway mortality.