Individual and synergistic effects of habitat loss and roads on reptile occupancy

Paterson, James E.; Pulfer, Tanya L.; Horrigan, E.C.; Sukumar, Smera; Vezina, Brittney I.; Zimmerling, Ryan; Davy, Christina M.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01865

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…It is understood that habitat loss due to urbanization often works in tandem with other anthropogenic disturbances, leading to aggravated impacts on wildlife populations (Romero‐Muñoz et al ., 2020; Paterson et al ., 2021). In our case, loss of a portion of turtle habitat and reduced connectivity between sub‐populations could have forced animals into the proximity of roads, where permeable fencing failed to prevent vehicle collisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic evidence that development is not compatible with sustainability in semi‐urban freshwater turtles

Auge,

Blouin‐Demers,

Hasler

et al. 2023

Animal Conservation

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Balancing urban development with environmental sustainability is a major challenge that is increasingly recognized in planning decisions. Urban development proposals are often approved with the expectation that deleterious impacts on native species will be constrained, but this assumption is rarely tested over sufficient timelines to confirm its validity for long‐lived, at‐risk species. We tracked changes in Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) habitat availability and demography over 10 years near Ottawa, ON, Canada, to determine whether urban development and associated mitigation measures were sufficient to ensure long‐term population persistence. Suitable turtle habitat declined by 10% during the study, and wetland corridors were essentially lost. Habitat loss coincided with a marked reduction in adult turtle apparent survival, resulting in a 70% decline in population size. Adult females experienced the greatest decline, and despite wildlife fencing and culvert placement as conditions of project approval, turtle road mortality likely was the primary cause of the decline. Deterministic population viability analysis revealed that ~4 adult female road mortalities (of an initial 56 females) per year produced a comparable decline to that observed in our population estimates; at this rate, the population will likely breach its quasi‐extinction threshold (4 females) in under a decade. Accordingly, we infer that in our study area, approved urban development was not compatible with at‐risk turtle population viability. Our findings imply that urban development approval conditions, even when conducted in the context of seemingly robust species‐at‐risk protection, can be inadequate to ensure sustainability. We contend that if environmental sustainability is to be prioritized, urban development projects in areas occupied by at‐risk species must be subject to more stringent oversight during the planning, approval and implementation phases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic evidence that development is not compatible with sustainability in semi‐urban freshwater turtles

Auge,

Blouin‐Demers,

Hasler

et al. 2023

Animal Conservation

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“…It is well established that community science programs present biases in sampling effort and intensity (Tiago et al ., 2017; Petrovan et al ., 2020), but programs can be implemented with forethought and the remaining sampling biases can be recognized and considered. As a cost‐efficient method to collect spatially replicated and/or long‐term data over a broad scales, citizen science programs are clearly effective, as evidenced by their role in uncovering broad‐scale colonization and extinction rates, phenological shifts under climate warming (de Solla et al ., 2006; Badzinski et al ., 2008; Archer & Jones, 2009; Klaus & Lougheed, 2013; Villena Carpio et al ., 2016), and detecting broad spatial and temporal changes in relative abundance (Dickinson et al ., 2010; Conrad & Hilchey, 2011; Paterson et al., 2021). Road access, in particular, has long been known to facilitate a higher frequency of participation in population monitoring over time (Mair & Ruete, 2016), and in the present study, we presented data from semi‐structured road surveys, a novel technique with potentially broad community science uptake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 91% decline in a common anuran in an otherwise stable amphibian community inferred from 17 years of rapid road surveys

Lacroix

Schueler

Rollinson

2023

Animal Conservation

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Amphibians are disproportionately represented among the many vertebrate taxa that are declining globally. Few long‐term studies of amphibians exist, especially in temperate climates, hindering our understanding of long‐term trends in amphibian communities, which may delay or prevent management action. Here, we develop and deploy an inexpensive monitoring method with potentially broad scientific and community uptake, ‘rapid road surveys’. We test whether this protocol is useful in understanding relative abundance in an amphibian community over a 17‐year period. From 2003 to 2019, we performed thousands of rapid (5–15 min) amphibian surveys and recorded the number of on‐road amphibians along a single, 267 m stretch of secondary roads in rural Canada. Assuming that on‐road occurrence reflects relative amphibian population sizes, we show that amphibians have declined by approximately 73% from 2003 to 2019. The decline was driven by a remarkable 91% decrease in the abundance of northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens), the species comprising the most observation records, while all other species did not show a temporal trend. We cannot attribute a definitive mechanism to the L. pipiens decline. However, by ruling out a number of putative causes, we hypothesize that it may be related to land‐use change or infectious disease. Our results show that a simple, temporally replicated road survey protocol, deployed in a spatially restricted area, can be a valuable tool for conservation scientists to understand trends in abundance across an entire community. We discuss how these rapid road surveys are likely a viable option for future community science initiatives.

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“…We identified southern Ontario and two regions farther north as likely high‐risk areas in the event of a Bsal introduction. Southern Ontario is one of the most densely populated regions in Canada, and wildlife in this area are already threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation (Paterson et al, 2021 ). The large cities in southern Ontario represent potential trade routes for introducing Bsal into the country (Stephen et al, 2015 ), highlighting international trade restrictions as an important policy tool (Auliya et al, 2016 ; Stegen et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We identified southern Ontario and two regions farther north as likely high-risk areas in the event of a Bsal introduction. Southern Ontario is one of the most densely populated regions in Canada, and wildlife in this area are already threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation (Paterson et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread occurrence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Ontario, Canada, and predicted habitat suitability for the emerging Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans

Crawshaw

Buchanan

Shirose

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Individual and synergistic effects of habitat loss and roads on reptile occupancy

Cited by 12 publications

References 52 publications

Demographic evidence that development is not compatible with sustainability in semi‐urban freshwater turtles

Demographic evidence that development is not compatible with sustainability in semi‐urban freshwater turtles

A 91% decline in a common anuran in an otherwise stable amphibian community inferred from 17 years of rapid road surveys

Widespread occurrence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Ontario, Canada, and predicted habitat suitability for the emerging Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans

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