| Abstrakt: |
The incidence of wildlife mortality on roads is a widespread phenomenon reported in many countries; despite this, it has received limited attention in China. To address this issue, a field investigation was conducted to assess the magnitude, composition, and temporal patterns of road mortality of native vertebrates on Ring Changbai Mountain Scenic Highway in north-east China from 2009 to 2012. A total of 3.475 vertebrates, belonging to 63 species were recorded as road mortalities. Amphibians were the most abundant taxa recorded (86.21 %), followed by mammals (5.70 %), birds (5.24 %), and reptiles (2.85 %). Regarding the number of species affected by the incidence of road kills, birds were the most affected taxa (31 species), followed by mammals (16 species) and reptiles (10 species), while amphibians were the least affected taxa (6 species). Three vertebrate species that were recorded as road mortalities are under second class protection in China. There were no differences between seasons or months for road mortality or richness for bird and reptile taxa, while significant differences between months were observed for mammals and amphibians. Mammal road mortality was highest in August, most road kills being encountered for the Siberian Chipmunk (Tamias sibiricus Laxmann, 1769) mortalities. Amphibian road mortality was highest in June, most road kills being encountered for the Chinese Brown Frog (Rana chensinensis David, 1875), Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis Boulenger, 1890), and Asiatic Toad (Bufo gargarizans Cantor, 1842). Each taxonomic group showed no distinct differences in species richness between months. This research recommends creating wildlife crossing structures for amphibians and small-sized mammals to reduce the incidence of road mortalities and adopting traffic management measures to mitigate amphibian mortality especially from April to September, and strictly controlling speed limitations to 60 km/h on this highway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
