engleski

“Death traps”‐  inappropriate constructions in protected areas can cause high mortality in amphibians and reptiles

Amphibians and reptiles are among the most threatened groups of animals on our planet. Their future survival is directly connected to their ability to adapt to ever spreading anthropogenic habitats. But it is also important that we make our impact to be as ecologically friendly as possible. Here we describe the problem of urban constructions which cause very high animal mortality when used in natural habitats – called "death traps". Our research was focused on parking drainage system built in front of Kopačkirit Nature Park visitor centre in Kopačevo, Croatia. This construction is made out of around 80 meters of collection channels and a large underground tank (volume of around 15 m3). Collection channels act as pitfall traps collecting animals from around parking surface and focusing them to underground tank. This effect was first observed in May 2010 when more than 200 animals were found within the underground tank (around 50% of animals were already dead). In 2015 we started a continuous monitoring on this location in order to quantify the negative effect and mortality. In total we collected 245 individuals, belonging to six amphibian and one reptile species, from which around 5% was already found dead. All animals were removed from the tank during each research occasion and live individuals were released back into nature. If not removed all animals would die eventually. During April and May sampling we calculated that in average 4.98 individuals fall into the tank each day. We give a set of conservation measures that can reduce the mortality and suggest general guidelines for development of more eco‐friendly constructions.

Amphibian ; reptile ; mortality ; construction ; death trap ; car parking

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