EAPSI: Road Zone Effects on Endemic Taiwan Herpetofauna

道路基础设施的扩建增加了连通性，但也带来了生态后果。爬行动物和两栖动物（爬虫动物群）的道路死亡率最高，是陆地脊椎动物分类群中最受威胁的一类，但道路生态学研究缺乏。由于其复杂的空间生活方式和迫切的保护需求，爬行动物是研究多景观尺度道路带效应的理想选择。此外，道路造成的栖息地破碎化预计将对岛屿生态系统产生特别严重的影响，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。台湾因其高密度的道路网络和生物多样性，是研究间接道路带对特有爬行动物影响的理想地点。虽然一些研究记录了道路对台湾野生动物的直接影响，但道路地带景观对爬行动物的间接影响尚不清楚。这些间接影响包括在道路附近创造可能吸引爬虫动物的景观，从而增加爬虫动物对道路死亡的脆弱性。本研究将与台湾特有物种研究所著名爬虫学家及道路生态学家林德恩博士合作进行。本项目将透过多个空间与生态尺度，测量道路破碎化对台湾爬虫动物的间接影响，以量化道路对当地生物多样性的影响。假设道路带景观的间接效应会在多个景观和生态尺度上导致生物多样性的下降。预测结果如下：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爬行动物创造有吸引力但危险的栖息地；2)由于不同的生活史，不同分类类群的道路区利用率不同。本项目将阐明道路破碎化对台湾特有及当地爬虫动物群落的间接影响。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会EAPSI与台湾科学技术部合作资助，支持一名美国研究生的研究。

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.