A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION OF HIGHWAY IMPACTS ON HERPETOFAUNA INHABITING SMALL ISOLATED WETLANDS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. COASTAL PLAIN

The Southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain is home to the greatest number of trees and the highest species densities of snakes, turtles and frogs, and is second in the number of species of salamanders. It is a distinct geological and biological province composed entirely of sedimentary rocks and is a continent-skirting belt of land of varying width up to about 200 miles (322 km), ranging from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey to east Texas, and including all of Florida. Within the Coastal Plain are small isolated wetlands variously called temporary or ephemeral ponds. These ponds often maintain water sporadically throughout the year and breeding by different species may take place year-round. A buffer zone of native habitat surrounding temporary ponds is crucial to the survival of temporary pond fauna. One large problem facing animals inhabiting temporary ponds is the presence in the upland buffer zone of roads and highways. These often impose on populations additional and heavy mortality involving direct road kills by automobiles, desiccation of small, moist-bodied animals on dry and sometimes hot asphalt and concrete, and increased exposure of small animals to aerial predation. Some other effects of roads on small species are habitat fragmentation and unwillingness on behalf of the animals to move across broad expanses of hostile habitat. The results of an intensive study of one of these ponds, which is adjacent to U.S. Highway 319 near Tallahassee, Florida, is presented in this paper. In conclusion, several projects are proposed for studies that need to be conducted five or more years in advance of the need to widen U.S. Highway 319.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 297-307

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00745674
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-PD-96-041
  • Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Feb 3 1998 12:00AM