Roads as barriers to animal movement in fragmented landscapes

Roads can act as barriers to animal movement through mortality during crossing attempts or behavioral avoidance. This barrier effect has negative demographic and genetic consequences that can ultimately result in local or regional extinction. Here we use radio-telemetry data on three terrestrial vertebrates (eastern massasauga Sistrurus catenatus , eastern box turtle Terrapene carolina and ornate box turtle Terrapene ornata ) to test whether roads acted as barriers to movement. Specifically, we test whether individuals avoided crossing roads by comparing the number of observed crossings with the number of road crossings predicted by randomizations of individual movement paths. All species crossed roads significantly less often than predicted by chance, indicating strong road avoidance. Results of this study showing behavioral avoidance and previous studies on road mortality indicate that roads are strong barriers to these species. High mortality during crossing attempts would select for road avoidance, reducing the number of individuals killed on roads over time but leading to genetically partitioned subpopulations due to a lack of gene flow. In species that are long-lived and late-maturing, negative genetic effects might not be observable over short time-scales, thus placing populations at high risk of extinction because of a failure to detect an incrementally worsening problem. Formulating successful management strategies for many species in decline will require integrating data on road mortality, animal behavior and population genetics in order to understand more clearly the barrier effect of roads.     

西双版纳小磨公路及其周边道路对蛇类活动的影响

2007年12月至2008年12月,对小磨新路、小磨老路的云路制胶厂至曼粉段和附近的一条乡村公路对蛇类的影响进行了研究。通过Logistic回归模型探讨蛇类出现在公路上的地点与各种环境因子的关系;通过多元逐步线性回归模型探讨蛇类出现在公路上的时间与气候因子的关系。研究期间巡路52d,共记录到蛇类20只10种。结果显示：天然林边蛇上公路的概率显著低于农田和人工林;2d前的最高温越低,最大湿度越大,蛇上公路的概率越大。此外,在公路及附近区域总共记录到的14种蛇中,包括一些中国最稀有的种类,比如绿林蛇（Boiga cyanea）和金花蛇（Chrysopelea ornate）。     

Kleptothermy: an additional category of thermoregulation,and a possible example in sea kraits (Laticauda laticaudata,Serpentes)

Lacking the capacity for thermogenesis, most ectotherms inhabiting thermally heterogeneous environments rely instead upon exploiting that ambient heterogeneity. In many cases they maintain body temperatures within a narrow range despite massive spatial and temporal variation in ambient conditions. Reliance on diverse thermal opportunities is reflected in specific terms for organisms that bask in sunlight to regulate their temperature (heliotherms), or that press their bodies against warm substrates to facilitate heat flow (thigmotherms), or that rely on large body mass to maintain thermal constancy (gigantothermy). We propose an additional category of thermoregulators: kleptotherms, which regulate their own temperature by ‘stealing’ heat from other organisms. This concept involves two major conditions: the thermal heterogeneity created by the presence of a warm organism in a cool environment and the selective use of that heterogeneity by another animal to maintain body temperatures at higher (and more stable) levels than would be possible elsewhere in the local area. Kleptothermy occurs in endotherms also, but is usually reciprocal (rather than unilateral as in ectotherms). Thermal monitoring on a small tropical island documents a possible example of kleptothermy, based on high stable temperatures of a sea snake (Laticauda laticaudata) inside a burrow occupied by seabirds.