EAPSI: Road Zone Effects on Endemic Taiwan Herpetofauna

Chyn Kristina, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

Expansion of road infrastructure increases connectivity, but also brings ecological consequence. Reptiles and amphibians (herpetofauna) have the highest recorded levels of road mortality and are the most threatened group of terrestrial vertebrate taxa, but road ecology studies are lacking. Due to their spatially complex lifestyles and urgent conservation need, herpetofauna are ideal for studying road zone effects across multiple landscape scales. Additionally, habitat fragmentation due to roads is expected to have especially dramatic impacts in island ecosystems, such as Taiwan, an island with high ecological value and twice the road density of the USA. Due to the high-density road networks and biodiversity, Taiwan is a choice site for research on indirect road zone effects on endemic herpetofauna. Although some research has documented direct effects of roads on wildlife in Taiwan, indirect impacts of road zone landscapes on herpetofauna are unclear. These indirect effects can include creation of landscapes near roads that may attract herpetofauna, subsequently increasing herpetofauna vulnerability to road mortality. This study will be conducted in collaboration with noted Taiwan herpetologist and road ecologist, Dr. Te-En Lin, from the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute. This project will measure indirect effects of road fragmentation on Taiwan's herpetofauna across multiple spatial and ecological scales to quantify impacts of roads on local biodiversity. The hypothesis is that indirect effects of road zone landscapes will cause declines in biodiversity at multiple landscape and ecological scales. There are two predicted findings: 1) since road zones can serve as ecological traps, road-zone landscapes will create attractive, but dangerous habitat for many species of herpetofauna across spatial scales; 2) there will be differing rates of road zone utilization across taxonomic groups due to differing life histories. This project will elucidate unstudied indirect impacts of road fragmentation across endemic and local Taiwan herpetofauna communities. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.