Logo image
Back
Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle ( Chelodina oblonga )
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Optimizing road underpass design to maximize use by a freshwater turtle ( Chelodina oblonga )

Anthony Santoro, Rachel Newsome, Zoe Regan, Jane M. Chambers and Stephen J. Beatty
Aquatic conservation, Vol.33(9), pp.995-1002
2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3982
Appears in  Open Access via Read & Publish Agreements
pdf
Published1.10 MBDownloadView
CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

ecopassage turtle conservation urbanization culver wildlife-vehicle mortality movement
Roads affect the connectivity of habitat and inhibit movements of animals as a result of road avoidance and road-related mortalities. Freshwater turtles are particularly vulnerable to mortality on roads, as females must often cross them when they leave the aquatic environment to nest. Ecopassages designed to enable safe movement across roads by wild animals may be an effective measure to reduce adverse impacts. Limited information exists, however, on effective design criteria for freshwater turtles. A willingness-to-utilize study was used to assess factors that may influence the use of a tunnel underpass by the southwestern snake-necked turtle (Chelodina oblonga), a species whose populations are declining, in part, through road-related mortalities of nesting females. Female C. oblonga were sourced from an urban wetland and placed in an enclosure with exits of varying tunnel lengths (12 and 25 m) and lighting treatments (‘light’ and ‘dark’) to assess the conditions that would promote successful passage. Generalized linear modelling showed that light treatments had a significantly increased likelihood of successful and faster passage for both 12 and 25 m tunnels than the dark treatments. Tunnel length had no effect either on success or rate of passage. This study provides the first account of the factors that may optimize successful tunnel passage by C. oblonga to reduce road-related mortality, contributing to the conservation and management of the species and freshwater turtles more generally.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#14 Life Below Water

Metrics

11 File views/ downloads
116 Record Views
6 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
3.35.683 Reptile Ecology
Web Of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Water Resources
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
Logo image