An analysis on characteristics, lifestyle, and habitat of Reptiles
Shilpi Kiran
Zoology
September 2021
Background The world's most endangered vertebrate species include amphibians and reptiles. However, little is known about how roadkills on tertiary highways influence them or if the structure of the surrounding terrain may account for patterns in roadkill. Our study's objective was to determine if open-access remote sensing data might be used to depict spatial patterns of amphibian and reptile deaths on secondary highways using a large-scale citizen science technique. Using a citizen science app, we tracked amphibian and reptile road deaths over 97.5 km of tertiary roads in eastern Austria over the course of two seasons. These roads included farm, municipal, and interurban roads as well as bicycle lanes. Using the region's open access land cover classifications, the surrounding landscape was evaluated (Coordination of Information on the Environment, CORINE). Kernel density estimation (KDE+) was used for hotspot analysis. Conditional probabilities and general linear models were used to analyse the relationships between different land cover classes and amphibian and reptile road deaths (GLM). A large-scale citizen science monitoring project's potential cost-efficiency was also calculated. Results Eight different species of amphibians and reptiles totaling 180 were killed on highways, mostly on farm roads. For authorities attempting to reduce road deaths, KDE+ analysis indicated a large grouping of amphibians and reptiles that were killed on the road. In general, places with a high concentration of amphibian and reptile road deaths were close to vineyards, residential areas, and agricultural land. The most often discovered road-killed species, the grass snake, common toad, and green toad, were identified as road-kills specifically near to their preferred habitats using conditional probabilities and GLMs. Only when more than 400 km of road are monitored did a citizen science technique prove to be more economical than professional researchers. Conclusions our results indicated that a citizen science strategy coupled with publicly accessible remote sensing data might be a cost-effective way aiming to discover and monitor amphibian and reptile road-kill hotspots on a bigger scale.
© Airo Journals 2021
