The impact on native herpetofauna due to traffic collision at the interface between a suburban area and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area: an ecological disaster?

Abstract

Vehicle collision resulting in animal mortality is a common daily occurrence, although few studies have considered the impact on herpetofauna in urban areas. Over a 7 year period (2003 -2010), 1.4 km of suburban streets of Falconbridge that interface with the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, west of Sydney, was surveyed on foot two to four days a week, typically soon after dawn. Over the period a total of 86 reptiles that represented 20 species: 38% of the lizard and 56% of snake species known from the area were collected as road kills due to collision with vehicles. This equated to approximately one individual per month that was collected across the 7 years. Representatives of six frog species were also identified as road kills (33% of the local frog fauna). In Faulconbridge, 20-30 km of 50 km/hr roadways interface with the national park and there are 26 towns within the World Heritage Area. Each of these towns has a network of streets that covers much more than just the perimeter of the town, and there are two major highways that bisect the World Heritage Area. Although an average death rate of one reptile per month may be considered negligible, the cumulative loss of reptiles due to vehicle collision in the region is an ecological disaster.

Disentangling the Influence of Urbanization and Invasion on Endemic Geckos in Tropical Biodiversity Hot Spots: A Case Study ofPhyllodactylus martini(Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) along an Urban Gradient in Curaçao

“…Additionally, this scale provides a broad assessment of urbanization that can provide the framework for future studies of areas within the island as data layers with increased resolution become available. Based on the natural history of P. martini (Van Buurt 2005), as well as mortality studies of other gecko species (Das et al 2007;Schutt 2008;Wotherspoon and Burgin 2011), rivers, roads and urbanized areas were weighted as difficult to pass through, whereas the natural arid bush habitat (mondi) of the island was given the lowest resistance (Appendix 2). Although P. martini will readily colonize walls, this coding of resistance reflects findings by Hughes et al (2015), who found this species to be absent in urban areas away from edge habitats.…”

Is the evolving sport of mountain biking compatible with fauna conservation in national parks?

“…While the low speed, suburban street that Wotherspoon and Burgin (2011) reported on has remained effectively unchanged for more than 20 years, species may become locally extinct as a result of new road development (Lunney et al 2002) while the long-term viability of some vertebrate populations may be compromised (e.g., Jones 2000; Ramp and Ben-Ami 2006).…”

“…Mountain biking trails through natural bushland offer an equivalent interface that has the potential to attract animals, particularly reptiles that thermoregulate and expose them to predation and collision with bikers' wheels. For example, over a seven year period, Wotherspoon and Burgin (2011) collected 19 reptile species (33% of the local recorded reptile fauna) as road kill on early morning excursions in Faulconbridge on a suburban road in a 50 km zone that abutted national park. These species are also likely to access trails within the local national park and therefore expose themselves to possible collision if it were a mountain biking trail.…”

“…Reptiles may be the exception since they seek open areas and/or warm substrates as basking sites. For example, Wotherspoon and Burgin (2011) found that species considered locally rare were found in disproportionately higher numbers as road kills. Individuals of two species, eastern small-eyed Cryptophis…”

Rock Refuges Are Strongly Associated with Increased Urban Occupancy in the Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis

“…Reptiles, especially species that are habitat specialists, may be particularly sensitive to habitat alteration due to relatively slow dispersal and Diversity 2022, 14, 655 2 of 11 recolonization rates [23,24]. Studies in lizards have suggested that they may be deterred by urban anthropogenic stressors such as noise [25], excess light [26,27], and vehicular traffic [28,29]. While a wide range of studies have begun to emerge on urban lizard morphology, reproduction, physiology, behavior, genetics, learning, and habitat occupancy [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42], as well as several current reviews and meta-analyses [36,[43][44][45], many more are needed to better understand the effects of urbanization and other anthropogenic land uses on reptiles.…”