EAPSI: Road Zone Effects on Endemic Taiwan Herpetofauna

EAPSI：道路区域对台湾特有爬行动物的影响

• 批准号: 1514955
• 负责人: Kristina Chyn
• 金额: $ 0.51万
• 依托单位: Chyn Kristina
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1514955&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAPSI; Road; Zone; Effects; Endemic

Expansion of road infrastructure increases connectivity, but also brings ecological consequence. Reptiles and amphibians (herpetofauna) have the highest recorded levels of road mortality and are the most threatened group of terrestrial vertebrate taxa, but road ecology studies are lacking. Due to their spatially complex lifestyles and urgent conservation need, herpetofauna are ideal for studying road zone effects across multiple landscape scales. Additionally, habitat fragmentation due to roads is expected to have especially dramatic impacts in island ecosystems, such as Taiwan, an island with high ecological value and twice the road density of the USA. Due to the high-density road networks and biodiversity, Taiwan is a choice site for research on indirect road zone effects on endemic herpetofauna. Although some research has documented direct effects of roads on wildlife in Taiwan, indirect impacts of road zone landscapes on herpetofauna are unclear. These indirect effects can include creation of landscapes near roads that may attract herpetofauna, subsequently increasing herpetofauna vulnerability to road mortality. This study will be conducted in collaboration with noted Taiwan herpetologist and road ecologist, Dr. Te-En Lin, from the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute.This project will measure indirect effects of road fragmentation on Taiwan's herpetofauna across multiple spatial and ecological scales to quantify impacts of roads on local biodiversity. The hypothesis is that indirect effects of road zone landscapes will cause declines in biodiversity at multiple landscape and ecological scales. There are two predicted findings: 1) since road zones can serve as ecological traps, road-zone landscapes will create attractive, but dangerous habitat for many species of herpetofauna across spatial scales; 2) there will be differing rates of road zone utilization across taxonomic groups due to differing life histories. This project will elucidate unstudied indirect impacts of road fragmentation across endemic and local Taiwan herpetofauna communities. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.

道路基础设施的扩建在增加连通性的同时，也带来了生态后果。爬行动物和两栖动物(两栖动物)的道路死亡率是有记录以来最高的，是陆生脊椎动物中最受威胁的一组，但道路生态学研究缺乏。由于它们在空间上的复杂生活方式和迫切的保护需求，两栖动物是研究不同景观尺度上的道路地带效应的理想选择。此外，道路造成的栖息地碎片化预计将对岛屿生态系统产生特别重大的影响，例如台湾，一个具有高生态价值的岛屿，道路密度是美国的两倍。由于台湾的高密度道路网络和生物多样性，台湾是研究间接道路带对地方性两栖动物影响的首选地点。虽然一些研究已经证明道路对台湾野生动物的直接影响，但道路景观对两栖动物的间接影响尚不清楚。这些间接影响可能包括在道路附近创造可能吸引两栖动物的景观，从而增加两栖动物对道路死亡的脆弱性。这项研究将与台湾特有物种研究所著名爬行动物学家、道路生态学家林德恩博士合作，从多个空间和生态尺度衡量道路碎片化对台湾爬行动物的间接影响，以量化道路对当地生物多样性的影响。假设道路地带景观的间接影响将在多个景观和生态尺度上导致生物多样性的下降。有两个预测结果：1)由于道路带可以作为生态陷阱，道路带景观将在空间尺度上为许多种类的两栖动物创造有吸引力但危险的栖息地；2)由于不同的生活史，不同的分类群对道路带的利用率将有所不同。本计画将阐明台湾特有及当地两栖动物群落间道路碎裂的未研究间接影响。这一NSF EAPSI奖项支持一名美国研究生的研究，并与台湾科技部合作提供资金。