Records of snakes are common in fauna road-kill monitoring studies in different Brazilian regions. To determine the intentionality of snake road-killing on a Brazilian road, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) more fake snakes are intentionally killed on the road than objects not similar to snakes; (2) the time elapsed until the first intentional fake snake road-kill is less than that for dissimilar objects; (3) the proportion of intentional collisions with fake snakes does not depend on the type of vehicle; (4) objects positioned in the center of the road are more frequently road-killed than those positioned on the roadside; (5) variation in the number of intentional road-kills is linked to variation of vehicular traffic. Fake snakes and PET bottles were placed in different positions on the MG-010 road (Minas Gerais State), and monitored for 96 hours by cameras that recorded the movement of vehicles on the lane. The numbers of intentional snake road-kills and control objects presented no differences, and the time elapsed until the first intentional road-kills was also similar. Cars and trucks are the vehicle categories with highest incidence of collisions. Objects were struck more often when positioned in the center of the road. This study proves that intentional road-killing occurs and that any small object on the road is subject to being struck by a moving vehicle. This behavior by some drivers on Brazilian roads may pose a threat to the conservation of species that venture onto these roads.Keywords: wildlife-vehicle collisions; reptile conservation; human behavior; road ecology Resumo Registros de serpentes são recorrentes em trabalhos de monitoramento de fauna atropelada em diferentes regiões brasileiras. A fim de verificar se atropelamentos de serpentes em rodovias brasileiras ocorrem de maneira intencional, o presente estudo testou as seguintes hipóteses: (1) o número de atropelamentos intencionais de moldes de serpentes é maior do que o de atropelamentos intencionais de objetos não assemelhados com serpentes; (2) o tempo decorrido até o primeiro atropelamento intencional dos moldes de serpentes é menor do que de objetos não assemelhados; (3) a proporção de atropelamentos intencionais dos moldes de serpentes independe da categoria do veículo; (4) objetos posicionados no centro da rodovia são atropelados intencionalmente com maior frequência do que quando comparados aos posicionados nas margens; (5) a variação do número de atropelamentos intencionais está atrelada a variação do tráfego de veículos. Moldes de serpentes e garrafas pet foram dispostos em diferentes posições na rodovia MG-010 (Minas Gerais), e monitorados durante 96 horas, através de câmeras fotográficas que registraram o movimento dos veículos na pista. O número de atropelamentos intencionais de serpentes e objetos controle não apresentou diferença, assim como o tempo decorrido até o primeiro atropelamento intencional. Carros e caminhões constituem as categorias de veículos com maior incidência de atropelamento intencional. Quan...
In this chapter, we review the level of disturbance caused by railways due to noise and vibration, air, soil and water pollution, and soil erosion. There is evidence that soil and hydrology contamination may affect vegetation and aquatic fauna while noise can affect terrestrial vertebrates. In fact, noise, light, and vibration due to railways have been observed to reduce the abundance and richness of some insects, amphibians, and birds, and to cause avoidance behaviour on predators. Interestingly, reptiles, some bird species, small mammals, and large mammals seem to ignore rail traffic and benefit from the vegetation planted in the railway verges that provide food and shelter. Some engineering structures have been implemented to reduce the effects of railway disturbance: rail fastenings, rail dampers, under-sleeper pads, and noise barriers are applied to minimize noise and vibration; washing with water and cleaning the ballast are used to mitigate soil pollution; and grass plantation, the use of gypsum and application of compost/mulch coverage, are applied to control soil erosion.
Considered one of the most threatened biomes, the Cerrado currently has more than half of its original area converted into other types of land-use and little is known about the reptiles inhabiting this biome in Minas Gerais state. We quantified the species richness of Squamata and assessed the faunal composition in the Reserva Biológica Unilavras – Boqueirão. We recorded six snake species and 10 lizard species in the various physiognomies. The highest species richness was observed in the gallery forest, followed by the cerrado sensustricto and rupestrian fields. Gallery forest and cerrado sensustricto had similar compositions. The rarefaction curves suggest it is possible that other species may occur in the study area as well as new occurrence records of some species and the distribution expansion of others for this biome in Minas Gerais.
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