Molecular sexing of Xenarthra: a tool for genetic and ecological studies

Barragán-Ruiz, Carmen Elena; Paviotti-Fischer, Eliana; Rodríguez-Castro, Karen Giselle; Desbiez, Arnaud Léonard Jean; Galetti, Pedro Manoel

doi:10.1007/s12686-020-01168-2

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Indeed, population viability analysis showed how giant anteaters deaths due to vehicle collisions decrease the stochastic growth rate of populations by half, making them drastically less resilient to other threats, and slows their recovery time from catastrophic events (Desbiez et al ., 2020). The sex ratios of roadkill (Barragán‐Ruiz et al ., 2021) and our results on road crossing rates are consistent, both suggesting that males are more threatened by roadkill due to their higher crossing rates relatively to females. The fact that males are the most affected by roadkill is less critical than if it were females (Desbiez et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Noonan

Ascensão

Yogui

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

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Wildlife‐vehicle collisions (WVCs) represent a serious source of mortality for many species, threatening local populations’ persistence while also carrying high economic and human safety costs. Animals may adapt their behaviour to road‐associated threats, but roadside resources can also attract individuals to dangerous roadside habitats, ultimately acting as an ecological trap. Yet, the extent to which individuals modify their behaviour and space use to roads is largely unknown for most taxonomic groups. Using fine‐scale movement data from 38 giant anteaters Myrmecophaga tridactyla tracked in the Brazilian Cerrado, we aimed to identify facets of movement behaviour that might exhibit plasticity to roads and traffic volume. Specifically, the analysis of daily and instantaneous movement speeds, home‐range characteristics and crossing rates/times allowed us to test for an effect of road proximity, traffic volume and natural linear features on movement behaviour. We found no effect of road proximity or traffic volume on space use or movement behaviour. While individuals tended to reduce their movement speed when approaching roads and crossed roads ~3 times less than would have been expected by random chance, none of the three highways we monitored were impervious. The majority of tracked anteaters living near roads (<2 km) crossed them, with higher crossing rates for males than females. Habitat near roads may function as an ecological trap where healthy individuals occupy the territories nearby or bisected by roads but eventually are road‐killed given their regular crossings, leaving the territory vacant for subsequent occupation. Crucially, we found no evidence that anteaters actively searched for passage structures to cross the roads. This suggests that crossing structures alone are unlikely to mitigate WVC‐induced mortality in giant anteaters. Our research reinforces the need to implement fencing, leading to existing passages, and minimizing the amount of night‐time driving to reduce the number of WVCs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Noonan

Ascensão

Yogui

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, population viability analysis showed how giant anteaters deaths due to vehicle collisions decrease the stochastic growth rate of populations by half, making them drastically less resilient to other threats, and slows their recovery time from catastrophic events (Desbiez et al 2020). The sex ratios of roadkill (Barragán-Ruiz et al 2021) and our results on road crossing rates are consistent, both suggesting that males are more threatened by roadkill due to their higher crossing rates relatively to females. The fact that males are the most affected by roadkill is less critical than if it were females (Desbiez et al 2020).…”

Section: Roads As Ecological Trapssupporting

confidence: 68%

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Noonan

Ascensão

Yogui

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) represent a serious source of mortality for many species, threatening local populations' persistence while also carrying a high economic and human safety cost. Animals may adapt their behaviour to road associated threats, but roadside resources can act as attractants, providing misleading signals about the quality of roadside habitats, ultimately acting as an ecological trap. Yet, the extent to which individuals modify their behaviour and space use to roads is largely unknown for most taxa. Using fine-scale movement data from 41 giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), tracked in the Brazilian Cerrado, we aimed to identify facets of movement behaviour that might exhibit plasticity to roads and traffic volume. Specifically, the analysis of daily and instantaneous movement speeds, home range characteristics, and crossing rates/times, allowed us to test for an effect of road proximity, traffic volume and natural linear features on movement behaviour. We found no effect of road proximity or traffic volume on space use or movement behaviour. While individuals tended to reduce their movement speed when approaching roads and crossed roads ~3 times less than would have been expected by random chance, none of the highways we monitored were impervious. The majority of tracked anteaters living near roads (<2km) crossed them, with higher crossing rates for males. Consequently, habitat near roads may function as an ecological trap where healthy individuals occupy the territories nearby or bisected by roads but eventually are road-killed given their regular crossings, leaving the territory vacant for subsequent occupation. Crucially, we found no evidence that anteaters actively searched for passage structures to cross the roads. This suggests that crossing structures alone are unlikely to mitigate WVC induced mortality. Our research reinforces the need to implement fencing, properly linked to existing passages, and minimising the amount of night-time driving to reduce the number of WVCs.

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“…Such approaches can be informative at fine spatial and temporal scales, can be readily scaled up, are complementary to the other field‐based approaches, and are becoming less expensive over time (Corlett, 2017). Moreover, advances in laboratory protocols, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from tissues of road‐killed animals, can improve sex identification of badly decomposed or damaged roadkills, or roadkills of monomorphic species (Barragán‐Ruiz et al ., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic effects of road mortality on mammalian populations: a systematic review

et al. 2023

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In light of rapidly expanding road networks worldwide, there is increasing global awareness of the growing amount of mammalian roadkill. However, the ways in which road mortality affects the population dynamics of different species remains largely unclear. We aimed to categorise the demographic parameters in mammalian populations around the world that are directly or indirectly affected by road mortality, as well as identify the most effective study designs for quantifying population-level consequences of road mortality. We conducted a comprehensive systematic review to synthesise literature published between 2000 and 2021 and out of 11,238 unique studies returned, 83 studies were retained comprising 69 mammalian species and 150 populations. A bias towards research-intensive countries and larger mammals was apparent. Although searches were conducted in five languages, all studies meeting the inclusion criteria were in English. Relatively few studies (13.3%) provided relevant demographic context to roadkill figures, hampering understanding of the impacts on population persistence. We categorised five direct demographic parameters affected by road mortality: sex-and age-biased mortality, the percentage of a population killed on roads per year (values up to 50% were reported), the contribution of roadkill to total mortality rates (up to 80%), and roadkill during inter-patch or longdistance movements. Female-biased mortality may be more prevalent than previously recognised and is likely to be critical to population dynamics. Roadkill was the greatest source of mortality for 28% of studied populations and both additive and compensatory mechanisms to roadkill were found to occur, bringing varied challenges to conservation around roads. In addition, intra-specific population differences in demographic effects of road mortality were common. This highlights that the relative importance of road mortality is likely to be context specific as the road configuration and habitat quality surrounding a population can vary. Road ecology studies that collect data on key life parameters, such as age/stage/sex-specific survival and dispersal success, and that use a combination of methods are critical in understanding long-term impacts. Quantifying the demographic impacts of road mortality is an important yet complex consideration for proactive road management.

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Molecular sexing of Xenarthra: a tool for genetic and ecological studies

Cited by 9 publications

References 31 publications

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Roads as ecological traps for giant anteaters

Demographic effects of road mortality on mammalian populations: a systematic review

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