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Tasas de Encuentro de Anfibios en Carreteras con Diferentes Cantidades de Tráfico y Urbanización
Author(s) -
SUTHERLAND RONALD W.,
DUNNING PHILLIP R.,
BAKER WHIT M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01570.x
Subject(s) - amphibian , transect , urbanization , geography , ecology , forestry , biology
Although amphibians have relatively high rates of road mortality in urban areas, the conditions under which traffic threatens the survival of local amphibian populations remain unclear. In the Sandhills region of North Carolina (U.S.A.), we counted living and dead amphibians along two transects (total length 165 km) established on roads in areas with varying degrees of urbanization. We found 2665 individuals of 15 species, and amphibian encounter rates declined sharply as traffic and urban development increased. Regression‐tree models indicated that 35 amphibians/100 km occurred on roads with <535 vehicles/day, whereas the encounter rate decreased to only 2 amphibians/100 km on roads with >2048 vehicles/day. Although mortality rate peaked at higher traffic levels (47% dead on roads with >5200 vehicles/day), the number of dead amphibians was highest at low levels of traffic. This suggests that areas where amphibian mortality is concentrated may actually contain the largest populations remaining on a given road transect.