Intentional Snake Road-Kill: A Case Study using Fake Snakes on a Brazilian Road

Secco, Helio; Ratton, Pedro; Castro, Érika Paula; Lucas, Priscila Silva; Bager, Alex

doi:10.1177/194008291400700313

Cited by 39 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Some factors are driven by road characteristics (type of road, number of cars per time unit) and also by driver behaviour [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Indeed, studies have shown that roadkills of snakes are intentional [12][13][14]. Even the level of conservation protection affects the risk of being road-killed: protected areas can have a higher proportion of roadkills [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Landscape Factors on Amphibian Roadkills at the National Level

et al. 2019

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Roads exert multiple effects on wildlife, from animal mortality, habitat and population fragmentation, to modification of animal reproductive behaviour. Amphibians are the most frequently road-killed animal group. Many studies have attempted to analyse the factors driving amphibian casualties on roads, but these factors are limited to the roads themselves (e.g., traffic, type of roads, roads crossing water bodies) or to structures along them (e.g., ditches, walls). Sometimes, roadkills are related to land use along the roads. We analysed the influence of landscape factors on roadkill hotspots at the national level (Slovenia). Specifically, we aimed at: (1) identifying hotspots of roadkills, (2) analysing whether records of amphibian presence on roads are related to the distribution of water bodies and (3) analysing which factors (proximity to water bodies or human factors) explain the distribution of hotspots. Hotspots were identified by Malo’s method. Roadkills were modelled with Maxent for the first time in Slovenia. The relationships between amphibian presence and hotspots with factors were analysed with GLM. A total of 237 road sections were identified as hotspots, corresponding to 8% of road sections and containing 90% of road-killed individuals. Proximity to forests, meadows and agricultural land were the most important variables in Maxent models. The number of roadkills depended on the proximity to agricultural land, forests, water bodies and wetland areas, while the number of hotspots additionally depended on the proximity to urban settlements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Landscape Factors on Amphibian Roadkills at the National Level

et al. 2019

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“…Roads can even cause more wildlife mortality than hunting (Forman and Alexander ), illegal wildlife trade (Andrews et al ), or predation (Bujoczek et al ). Among the animals most susceptible to roadkill are snakes (Andrews et al ), predominantly because of their attraction to warm road surfaces for thermoregulation (Mccardle and Fontenot ), the availability of certain prey along roads (Andrews et al ), the immobilizing behavior of some species in response to oncoming traffic (Andrews and Gibbons ), and intentional killing by humans when snakes are seen on roads (Secco et al ). To understand and formulate recommendations to reduce road mortality, several studies have investigated factors thought to influence snake roadkill, including proximity to water or wetlands (Langen et al , D'Amico et al , Seo et al ), proximity to agriculture (Gonçalves et al ), elevation (Pragatheesh and Rajvanshi ), roadside vegetation (Jochimsen ), temperature (D'Amico et al ), season (Seo et al ), and species size and taxonomic affiliation (Andrews and Gibbons ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Informing snake roadkill mitigation strategies in Taiwan using citizen science

2018

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Despite their prevalence in roadkill in East Asia, there has been little research on snake mortality along roads, even though the region's fauna contains some of the highest proportions of threatened or data‐deficient reptiles. We analyzed citizen‐collected roadkill data from Taiwan, comprising >11,000 records of snake roadkill from 2006–2017. We used maximum entropy environmental niche modeling to predict roadkill sighting patterns across snake species differing in habitat use, foraging behavior, and taxonomic group. Roadkill sightings were highest in low to mid‐elevation (i.e., 0–2,000 m) forests and strips of farmland or shrubland that cut through forests; these areas likely support high snake abundances or dispersal activity. Sightings were lowest in urban areas and at high elevations (i.e., >2,000 m), likely because of unfavorable habitat conditions. Road density had little influence on roadkill sightings; areas with dense roads may be of lower habitat quality and contain fewer snakes. Roadkill sighting patterns differed among snake species with different habitat use and behavior. Natural history and landscape factors should be considered in roadkill mitigation design to reduce snake roadkill effectively. We recommend the use of similar citizen‐science projects elsewhere to supplement conservation planning. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

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“…The second group most affected by road-kills in our study was reptiles, particularly snakes. We listed four possible reasons that may contribute to the road-kill rate among snakes: 1) use of the road as a thermoregulatory surface (Sullivan 1981, Mccardle & Fontenot 2016, Gonçalves et al 2018; 2) motionlessness as a defensive tactic used by some species (Andrews & Gibbons 2005); 3) intentional road-killing of snakes (Secco et al 2014); and 4) locomotion limitations imposed by low friction surface of roads, compared to natural ground (D.C. Ward, W. F. Bien, I. Telenchev et al, unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and Spatial Variation of Road-Killed Vertebrates on Br330, Southwest Bahia, Brazil

et al. 2019

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In the present study, we aimed to characterize and quantify the vertebrates road-killed along 12.8 km of the BR-330 highway in southwestern Bahia. The road is surrounded by patches of Atlantic Forest and Caatinga and by human-modified areas. From May/2012 to August/2013, we performed 35 surveys, monitoring 448 km in total. During this period, we registered 146 road-killed individuals belonging to 60 species (35 birds, 15 reptiles, 7 mammals and 3 amphibians). The species most likely to be road-killed in the study area were the toad Rhinella jimi and the snakes Oxyrhopus trigeminus and Sibynomorphus neuwiedi. The Jaccard index showed higher values when compared to the observed richness of road-killed species, which is corroborated by the ten new species recorded during five additional surveys from August/2015 to July/2016. The number of road-killed vertebrates was significantly higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. We identified 26 road-kill hotspots along the studied stretch of road. The presence of water bodies associated with vegetational landscape surrounding these hotspots may be a reason for the higher concentration of road-kills. Besides being one of the few studies conducted in an ecotonal area in the northeast of Brazil, our data indicate some important patterns that should be considered for regional and national policies on impact mitigation.

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Intentional Snake Road-Kill: A Case Study using Fake Snakes on a Brazilian Road

Cited by 39 publications

References 27 publications

Influence of Landscape Factors on Amphibian Roadkills at the National Level

Influence of Landscape Factors on Amphibian Roadkills at the National Level

Informing snake roadkill mitigation strategies in Taiwan using citizen science

Seasonal and Spatial Variation of Road-Killed Vertebrates on Br330, Southwest Bahia, Brazil

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