Road-Kills of Snakes in a Tropical Rainforest in the Central Amazon Basin, Brazil

Maschio, Gleomar Fabiano; Santos-Costa, Maria Cristina dos; Prudente, Ana Lúcia da Costa

doi:10.2994/sajh-d-15-00026.1

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Little is known about this fossorial animal but our findings confirm previous suggestions that this fossorial species is more abundant than usually expected, and can persist at least temporarily in areas with high levels of habitat alteration (van der Hoek & Jarrín-V, 2017;Maschio, Santos-Costa, & Prudente, 2016). Studies of time lags in population responses will be key to explain the true impact of human disturbances on this species in the long term.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Wildlife roadkill patterns in a fragmented landscape of the Western Amazon

Filius

Hoek

Jarrín‐V

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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One of the most evident and direct effects of roads on wildlife is the death of animals by vehicle collision. Understanding the spatial patterns behind roadkill helps to plan mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of roads on animal populations. However, although roadkill patterns have been extensively studied in temperate zones, the potential impacts of roads on wildlife in the Neotropics have received less attention and are particularly poorly understood in the Western Amazon. Here, we present the results of a study on roadkill in the Amazon region of Ecuador; a region that is affected by a rapidly increasing development of road infrastructure. Over the course of 50 days, in the wet season between September and November 2017, we searched for road‐killed vertebrates on 15.9 km of roads near the city of Tena, Napo province, for a total of 1,590 surveyed kilometers. We recorded 593 dead specimens, predominantly reptiles (237 specimens, 40%) and amphibians (190, 32%), with birds (102, 17%) and mammals (64, 11%) being less common. Recorded species were assigned to three functional groups, based on their movement behavior and habitat use (“slow,” “intermediate,” and “fast”). Using Ripley's K statistical analyses and 2D HotSpot Identification Analysis, we found multiple distinct spatial clusters or hotspots, where roadkill was particularly frequent. Factors that potentially determined these clusters, and the prevalence of roadkill along road segments in general, differed between functional groups, but often included land cover variables such as native forest and waterbodies, and road characteristics such as speed limit (i.e., positive effect on roadkill frequency). Our study, which provides a first summary of species that are commonly found as roadkill in this part of the Amazon region, contributes to a better understanding of the negative impacts of roads on wildlife and is an important first step toward conservation efforts to mitigate these impacts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Wildlife roadkill patterns in a fragmented landscape of the Western Amazon

Filius

Hoek

Jarrín‐V

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Roads impact biodiversity because these linear perturbations negatively affect the ecosystems they traverse both during their construction and later use (Forman & Alexander, 1998;Van der Ree, Smith, & Grilo, 2015). Some of the main ecological effects that roads have on wildlife are (a) an increase in habitat loss and fragmentation (Andrews & Gibbons, 2005;Jacobson, Bliss-Ketchum, de Rivera, & Smith, 2016;Shepard, Dreslick, Jellen, & Phillips, 2008), (b) degradation of habitat quality adjacent to the road (Clevenger, Chruszcz, & Gunson, 2002;Roger & Ramp, 2009), (c) changes in the composition and structure of communities due to colonization by invasive or generalist species that are able to increase their distributions and abundances through the use of borders or by disturbances caused by human colonization of adjacent areas (Coffin, 2007;Laurance & Balmford, 2013), and (d) direct effects due to mortality resulting from collisions of vehicles with wildlife (Maschio, Santos-Costa, & Prudente, 2016;Pinowski, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, highways with high vehicular traffic tend to reduce the abundances of snake species with large body sizes, because these species are more vagile and more prone to venture onto the road surface (Jochimsen, Peterson, Andrews, Gibbons, & Drawer, 2004). Previous studies have examined the importance of ecological traits in determining snake road kill patterns in some areas of the Neotropics (Ferreira & Silva-Soares, 2012;Maschio et al, 2016;Quintero-Angel et al, 2012;Sosa & Schalk, 2016). In this study, we consider species traits too as well as the effects of spatial and temporal variation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Road Kill of Snakes on a Highway in an Orinoco Ecosystem: Landscape Factors and Species Traits Related to Their Mortality

Rincón‐Aranguri

Urbina‐Cardona

Galeano

et al. 2019

Tropical Conservation Science

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We sampled the snake fauna in 13 landscapes along 80 km of highway and in the adjacent vegetation cover in the Colombian Llanos. We registered 119 snakes belonging to 33 species. Traffic levels significantly influenced rates of snake road kill, while adjacent vegetation cover, rainfall seasonality, and landscape structure and composition did not. We classified the species into seven ecological groups based upon foraging strategy, body length, and habitat preferences. Although most of the roadkilled species had an active foraging strategy, all of the ecological groups contained some species that were killed on the highway, as well as some species that inhabited adjacent vegetation cover but that were not detected on the highway. The different ecological groups were not associated with different landscape characteristics. Six of the 13 landscapes that presented the lowest species richness of road-killed species had a different ecological group represented by each of the species documented as road kills. Thus, considering the ecological group that a species belongs to provides a complementary analytical approach that permits a fuller understanding of the ecological effects of roads on the functional role of the species in the ecosystem. We recommend focusing mitigation measures on highway sectors with the greater vehicular flow, employing both preventive measures such as posting driver advisories and installing speed radars and conducting environmental education programs to raise awareness of local drivers.

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“…In addition, one of the registered individuals of D. boshelli was road killed on the road that leads to the point of the river transfer. As this is a diurnal and terrestrial snake's species, it may be more susceptible to vehicular run-over than other snakes, as has been observed in other Neotropical forests (i. e. Hartmann et al 2011;Maschio et al 2016). Andrés Rojas (A, B, C, D, E, H, I, J).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Rediscovery of the enigmatic forest racer snake, Dendrophidion boshelli Dunn, 1944 (Serpentes, Colubridae): actions for the conservation of a critically endangered species

Rojas-Morales¹,

Marín-Martínez²,

Zuluaga-Isaza³

2019

NBC

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Rediscovery of the enigmatic forest racer snake, Dendrophidion boshelli Dunn, 1944 (Serpentes, Colubridae): actions for the conservation of a critically endangered species Redescoberta da enigmática cobra florestal Dendrophidion boshelli Dunn, 1944 (Serpentes, Colubridae): ações para a conservação de uma espécie criticamente ameaçada Abstract Dendrophidion boshelli is a poorly known and endemic snake species from the Middle Magdalena river valley in Colombia. It was described in 1944 based on a single specimen from the municipality of Caparrapí, department of Cundinamarca. Since the original description, only three additional specimens have been established. As part of the results of a herpetological monitoring in the Miel I Hydroelectric project, department of Caldas-Colombia, three additional specimens of D. boshelli were found in 2014-2015. The specimens represent the second known population of the species. We presented morphological data and pholidosis; description of the coloration in life, and a description of the habitat. Resumo Dendrophidion boshelli é uma espécie de cobra endêmica e pouco conhecida do meio do vale do rio Magdalena, na Colômbia. Esta serpente foi descrita em 1944 com base em um único espécime do município de Caparrapí, departamento de Cundinamarca. Desde a sua descrição, apenas três indivíduos adicionais são conhecidos. Recentemente, como parte dos resultados de um monitoramento herpetológico no projeto hidrelétrico Miel I, próximo à localidade-tipo, foram encontrados três exemplares adicionais de D. boshelli. Os exemplares representam a segunda população conhecida da espécie. Dados morfológicos, a descrição de sua coloração na vida e uma descrição do habitat são apresentados. Recentemente, D. boshelli foi incluída no Livro Vermelho dos Répteis da Colômbia na categoria Perigo Crítico (CR), e também para a Lista Vermelha da IUCN. Por ese motivo, para promover a conservação local desta e de outras espécies endémicas e ameaçadas na área do projeto Miel I, sugerimos algumas ações no nível local, como estabelecer uma área de conservação com status legal no rio Manso, que é tributario do projeto hidreléctrico Miel I.

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Road-Kills of Snakes in a Tropical Rainforest in the Central Amazon Basin, Brazil

Cited by 16 publications

References 35 publications

Wildlife roadkill patterns in a fragmented landscape of the Western Amazon

Wildlife roadkill patterns in a fragmented landscape of the Western Amazon

Road Kill of Snakes on a Highway in an Orinoco Ecosystem: Landscape Factors and Species Traits Related to Their Mortality

Rediscovery of the enigmatic forest racer snake, Dendrophidion boshelli Dunn, 1944 (Serpentes, Colubridae): actions for the conservation of a critically endangered species

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