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. 2022 Feb 23;12(5):561.
doi: 10.3390/ani12050561.

Amphibian and Reptile Road Mortality in Special Nature Reserve Obedska Bara, Serbia

Marko Anđelković  1 , Neda Bogdanović  2
Affiliations

Amphibian and Reptile Road Mortality in Special Nature Reserve Obedska Bara, Serbia

Marko Anđelković et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Amphibians and reptiles are the most threatened vertebrates by traffic, especially near ponds and wetlands. The main aim of this study was to examine seasonal and spatial patterns of amphibian and reptile road mortality in Special Nature Reserve "Obedska bara" (Serbia). We chose a road section of 4.2 km near the largest wetland in Serbia, with two different habitat types (forest-pond and agricultural area-pond). During 2018 (32 fieldwork days) and 2019-2020 (three control fieldwork days), we found 20,457 and 2231 road-killed animals, respectively. We recorded nine amphibian and eight reptile species. Amphibians (93%) were more vulnerable to traffic than reptiles (7%). The number of killed amphibians and reptiles varied between the seasons. Generally, amphibian roadkill was most frequent during the summer, whereas reptile roadkill was most frequent in spring and at the end of the summer. Furthermore, different roadkill patterns were observed during the examined months. In addition, we found that habitat type significantly affects the vulnerability of animals towards the roads. For both amphibians and reptiles, there were significant aggregations of roadkill, and most hotspots were located at the forest pond habitat type where mitigation measures must be applied (construction of tunnels and fences).

Keywords: herpetofauna; hotspots; road mitigation; roadkill; vehicle collisions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Position of the Special Nature Reserve “Obedska bara” on the map of Serbia and aerial map from Google Earth of the analysed road section in Special Nature Reserve “Obedska bara”, between Obrež and Kupinovo. The first section with forest habitat is green, whereas the second section with agricultural land is orange.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The number of road-killed individuals per month: (a) road-killed amphibians; (b) road-killed reptiles.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The proportion of road-killed amphibians and reptiles on the road sections with different habitat types (pond-forest and pond-agricultural area).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Results of Ripley’s K analysis presented as roadkill aggregations (y-axis) according to the radius (x-axis in km) for (a) amphibians and (b) reptiles. Blue line represents aggregation intensity. 95% confidence limits are represented by grey area. Significant aggregations of road mortality events occur if the blue line exceeds the upper confidence limit. Values under confidence limits indicate scales with significant dispersion. The figure was made using the Siriema plots application [45].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Spatial distribution of hotspots for (a) amphibians and (b) reptiles. X-axis represents road length (km), whereas y-axis represents roadkill intensity. Grey line indicate 95% confidence interval, and red line represents the spatial aggregations of the roadkill data. Values that exceeded the confidence interval indicate the hotspots. Above each graph the analysed road section is given with hotspots which are marked with red colour. The figure was made using the Siriema plots application [45].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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