PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 58: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species III: Reptiles and Amphibians.
Presiding: K Beard
Wednesday, August 6. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 202.
Vertebrate road-kill survey of the Mobile Bay Causeway.
Nelson, David*,1, Scardamalia-Nelson, Cynthia2, 1 University of South ALabama, Mobile, AL, USA2 Providence Hospital, Mobile, AL, 36688
ABSTRACT- A systematic, road-kill survey was conducted (by bicycle or automobile) on the Mobile Bay Causeway each week during 2001 and 2002 to assess the numbers of vertebrates killed by vehicular traffic. More than 1000 organisms representing 85 species of vertebrates were encountered: 8 amphibians, 25 reptiles, 39 birds and 13 mammals. Southern leopard frogs (Rana utricularia) were the most abundant amphibian (n=16). Endangered Alabama red-bellied turtles (Pseudemys alabamensis) were the most frequently encountered reptile (n=131); most specimens were hatchlings. Laughing gulls (Larus atricill, n=82) and American coots (Fulica americana, n=62) were the most commonly encountered birds. Raccoons (Procyon lotor, n=87), opossums (Didelphis marsupialis, n=82), and nutria (Myocastor coypus, n=59) were the most abundant mammals. Data were analyzed by taxon and season. The most significant finding in this ongoing study so far has been the emergence of 102 hatchlings of Pseudemys alabamensis during the months of March and April. These data confirm overwintering in the nest and document significant roadkill mortality of hatchlings of the Alabama red-bellied turtle.
Key words: Road-kill, Vertebrates