Build It and Some Will Use It: A Test of Road Ecopassages for Eastern Gartersnakes

Dillon, Rachel M.; Boyle, Sean P.; Litzgus, Jacqueline D.; Lesbarrères, David

doi:10.1670/18-163

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Turtles encountering underpasses could return in the direction they came from or cross the road anyway. If turtles were given the option to bypass the tunnels in this study, success across treatments may have been reduced (Woltz, Gibbs & Ducey, 2008; Baxter‐Gilbert et al, 2015; Dillon et al, 2020). Third, male C. oblonga may respond differently.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle (Chelodina oblonga)

Santoro,

Newsome,

Regan

et al. 2023

Aquatic Conservation

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Roads affect the connectivity of habitat and inhibit movements of animals as a result of road avoidance and road‐related mortalities. Freshwater turtles are particularly vulnerable to mortality on roads, as females must often cross them when they leave the aquatic environment to nest. Ecopassages designed to enable safe movement across roads by wild animals may be an effective measure to reduce adverse impacts. Limited information exists, however, on effective design criteria for freshwater turtles. A willingness‐to‐utilize study was used to assess factors that may influence the use of a tunnel underpass by the southwestern snake‐necked turtle (Chelodina oblonga), a species whose populations are declining, in part, through road‐related mortalities of nesting females. Female C. oblonga were sourced from an urban wetland and placed in an enclosure with exits of varying tunnel lengths (12 and 25 m) and lighting treatments (‘light’ and ‘dark’) to assess the conditions that would promote successful passage. Generalized linear modelling showed that light treatments had a significantly increased likelihood of successful and faster passage for both 12 and 25 m tunnels than the dark treatments. Tunnel length had no effect either on success or rate of passage. This study provides the first account of the factors that may optimize successful tunnel passage by C. oblonga to reduce road‐related mortality, contributing to the conservation and management of the species and freshwater turtles more generally.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle (Chelodina oblonga)

Santoro,

Newsome,

Regan

et al. 2023

Aquatic Conservation

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“…Wildlife exclusion fencing is rapidly becoming a standard tool employed by conservation practitioners, ranchers, and land managers to redirect animal movements (Glista et al 2009, Knight et al 2011, Markle et al 2017), but there is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution, so each fence needs to be designed with the biology of the target species in mind (Baxter‐Gilbert et al 2015, Dillon et al 2020). For amphibians, there have been few experiments that test the efficacy of different fence designs for their exclusion, with most fences developed for redirecting non‐climbing species into ecopassages (e.g., tunnels and culverts) to reduce road mortality (Dodd et al 2004, Grilo et al 2010, Beebee 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Exclusion Barriers for Treefrogs in Agricultural Landscapes

Hughes

Green

Warner

et al. 2021

Wildlife Society Bulletin

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Agricultural co‐management aims to promote environmental sustainability while maintaining food‐safety standards. Amphibians, especially treefrogs, are known to enter fields of fresh produce intended for human consumption, which raises concerns for food safety and quality. We evaluated the effects of modifications to reduce the scalability of exclusion barriers on the fence‐crossing behavior of Pacific treefrogs (Hyliola regilla) from lettuce fields in the Salinas Valley of California during January to May 2019. From small‐scale field experiments, we found that fences modified with a horizontal lip at the top prevented all treefrogs from successfully crossing over. Fences incorporating sandpaper were also effective at deterring treefrog crossings compared to fences made of fiberglass square mesh (window screen) and polypropylene fabric (silt fence). The fence design that inhibited the most treefrog crossings—aluminum flashing with a horizontal lip—was a modification to commercially available material that is feasible to install at large scales, is durable over long periods of time, and can help to exclude additional nuisance wildlife, such as small mammals and lizards. Our findings provide quantitative evidence on the efficacy of an exclusion barrier constructed with off‐the‐shelf material that can be easily modified to improve the co‐management of amphibians and agriculture. © 2021 The Authors. Wildlife Society Bulletin published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Wildlife Society.

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Road-effect mitigation promotes connectivity and reduces mortality at the population-level

Boyle

Keevil

Litzgus

et al. 2021

Biological Conservation

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Build It and Some Will Use It: A Test of Road Ecopassages for Eastern Gartersnakes

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle (Chelodina oblonga)

Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle (Chelodina oblonga)

Evaluating Exclusion Barriers for Treefrogs in Agricultural Landscapes

Road-effect mitigation promotes connectivity and reduces mortality at the population-level

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