How do King Cobras move across a major highway? Unintentional wildlife crossing structures may facilitate movement

Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolynErthygladolygiad gan gymheiriaid

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Dangosydd eitem ddigidol (DOI)

  • Max Dolton Jones
    Suranaree University of Technology
  • Benjamin Michael Marshall
    Suranaree University of Technology
  • Samantha Nicole Smith
    Suranaree University of Technology
  • Matt Crane
    King Mongkut's University of Technology
  • Inês Silva
    King Mongkut's University of Technology
  • Taksin Artchawakom
    Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research
  • Pongthep Suwanwaree
    Suranaree University of Technology
  • Surachit Waengsothorn
    Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research
  • Wolfgang Wüster
  • Matt Goode
    University of Arizona, Tucson
  • Colin Thomas Strine
    Suranaree University of Technology

Global road networks continue to expand, and the wildlife responses to these landscape-level changes need to be understood to advise long-term management decisions. Roads have high mortality risk to snakes because snakes typically move slowly and can be intentionally targeted by drivers.We investigated how radio-tracked King Cobras ( Ophiophagus hannah) traverse a major highway in northeast Thailand, and if reproductive cycles were associated with road hazards.We surveyed a 15.3 km stretch of Highway 304 to determine if there were any locations where snakes could safely move across the road (e.g., culverts and bridges). We used recurse analyses to detect possible road-crossing events, and used dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Models (dBBMMs) to show movement pathways association with possible unintentional crossing structures. We further used Integrated Step Selection Functions (ISSF) to assess seasonal differences in avoidance of major roads for adult King Cobras in relation to reproductive state.We discovered 32 unintentional wildlife crossing locations capable of facilitating King Cobra movement across the highway. While our dBBMMs broadly revealed underpasses as possible crossing points, they failed to identify specific underpasses used by telemetered individuals; however, the tracking locations pre- and post-crossing and photographs provided strong evidence of underpass use. Our ISSF suggested a lower avoidance of roads during the breeding season, although the results were inconclusive. With the high volume of traffic, large size of King Cobras, and a 98.8% success rate of crossing the road in our study (nine individuals: 84 crossing attempts with one fatality), we strongly suspect that individuals are using the unintentional crossing structures to safely traverse the road.Further research is needed to determine the extent of wildlife underpass use at our study site. We propose that more consistent integration of drainage culverts and bridges could help mitigate the impacts of roads on some terrestrial wildlife.

Allweddeiriau

Iaith wreiddiolSaesneg
Rhif yr erthygle8691
Nifer y tudalennau15
CyfnodolynEcology and Evolution
Cyfrol12
Rhif y cyfnodolyn3
Dyddiad ar-lein cynnar16 Maw 2022
Dynodwyr Gwrthrych Digidol (DOIs)
StatwsCyhoeddwyd - 17 Maw 2022

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