Impact of Vehicular Traffic on Vertebrate Fauna in Horton Plains and Yala National Parks of Sri Lanka: Some Implications for Conservation and Management
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Bridgewater State University Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Biological Sciences Faculty Publications Biological Sciences Department 2017 Impact of Vehicular Traffic one V rtebrate Fauna in Horton Plains and Yala National Parks of Sri Lanka: Some Implications for Conservation and Management Suranjan Karunarathna University of Colombo Sudheera Ranwala University of Colombo Thilina Surasinghe Bridgewater State University, [email protected] Majintha Madawala South Australian Museum Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/biol_fac Part of the Life Sciences Commons Virtual Commons Citation Karunarathna, Suranjan; Ranwala, Sudheera; Surasinghe, Thilina; and Madawala, Majintha (2017). Impact of Vehicular Traffic on Vertebrate Fauna in Horton Plains and Yala National Parks of Sri Lanka: Some Implications for Conservation and Management. In Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. Paper 74. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/biol_fac/74 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2017 | 9(3): 9928–9939 Impact of vehfcular trafffc on vertebrate fauna fn Horton Co m munfcatfon Plafns and Yala natfonal parks of Srf Lanka: some fmplfcatfons for conservatfon and management ISSN 0974-7907 (Onlfne) ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) Suranjan Karunarathna 1 , Sudheera Ranwala 2 , Thflfna Surasfnghe 3 & Majfntha Madawala 4 OPEN ACCESS 1 Faculty of Graduate Studfes, Unfversfty of Colombo, Colombo 03, Srf Lanka 2 Department of Plant Scfences, Unfversfty of Colombo, Colombo 03, Srf Lanka 3 Department of Bfologfcal Scfences, Brfdgewater State Unfversfty, Brfdgewater, MA 02325, USA 4 South Australfan Herpetology Group, South Australfan Museum, North Terrace, Adelafde, SA 5000, Australfa 1 [email protected] (correspondfng author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected] Abstract: Impacts of roadkflls are extensfvely documented fn developed nafons. Only a handful of studfes on road mortalfty has emerged from developfng nafons where tourfsm and rural development have led to an expansfon of transportafon networks. To fll such gaps, we conducted a survey to document roadkflls fn and around two tourfsm-heavy nafonal parks of Srf Lanka and fdenffed factors that contrfbute to road mortalfty. Based on a quesfonnafre, we fntervfewed 68 local vfllagers, 56 local and 59 forefgn vfsftors, and 57 safarf drfvers to document thefr opportunfsfc observafons on roadkflls, thefr awareness about roadkflls, and to understand potenfal causes of roadkflls. We found 47 roadkflled vertebrate specfes at both parks; among these, 19 are threatened and 20 are endemfc. Our research revealed that herpetofauna were kflled the most. We concluded that fncreased vfsftafon, hfgh-speed drfvfng, lack of awareness, and poor law enforcement as the lfkely causes of roadkflls at both parks. As mffgatory acfons, we proposed posfng speed lfmfts, fncreasfng awareness of the tourfsts and safarf drfvers, lfmffng vehfcle access to the parks, seasonal or nfght-fme access restrfcfons, and strfct enforcement of the speed lfmfts fnsfde nafonal parks. Keywords: Conservafon, lowland forests, management, montane forests, over-vfsftafon, roadkflls, speed lfmfts, tourfsm. DOI : htp://dof.org/10.11609/jot. 2715 .9. 3.9928-9939 | ZooBank: urn:lsfd:zoobank.org:pub:BF5F4DED-9E5B-48DC-B0BD-CE36F8AA4BBE Edftor: P.O. Nameer, Kerala Agrfcultural Unfversfty, Thrfssur, Indfa . Date of publfcafon: 26 March 2017 (onlfne & prfnt) Manuscrfpt detafls: Ms # 2715 | Recefved 23 Aprfl 2016 | Ffnal recefved 02 March 2017 | Ffnally accepted 04 March 2017 Cftafon: Karunarathna, S., S. Ranwala, T. Surasfnghe & M. Madawala (2017). Impact of vehfcular trafc on vertebrate fauna fn Horton Plafns and Yala nafonal parks of Srf Lanka: some fmplfcafons for conservafon and management . Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(3): 9928–9939 ; htp://dof.org/10.11609/jot. 2715 .9. 3.9928-9939 Copyrfght: © Karunarathna et al. 2017 . Creafve Commons Atrfbufon 4.0 Internafonal Lfcense. JoTT allows unrestrfcted use of thfs arfcle fn any medfum, repro - ducfon and dfstrfbufon by provfdfng adequate credft to the authors and the source of publfcafon. Fundfng: Self funded Conlfct of fnterest: The authors declare no compefng fnterests. Author Detafls: Suranjan Karunarathna fs a feld bfologfst, and conducts research on herpetofaunal taxonomy, behavfor and ecology, also promot es conservafon awareness among the Srf Lankan publfc. He fs an acfve member of many IUCN/SSC Specfalfst Groups; Sudheera Ranwala fs a senfor lecturer fn Unfversfty of Colombo, and studfes plant lffe, controllfng fnvasfve specfes and conducts bfodfversfty assessments; Thflfna Surasfnghe fs a conservafon bfologfst who currently works as an assfstant professor fn Bfologfcal Scfences (Brfdgewater State Unfversfty). He fs an ecologfst; hfs academfc trafnfng encompasses dfferent aspects of bfology, ecology, and envfronmental scfences and natural resources management; Majfntha Madawala fs a conservafonfst engaged fn numerous habftat restorafon and snake rescue programs. He fs an acfve member of Crocodfle Specfalfst Group fn the IUCN/SSC. Author Contrfbufon: SK and MM concefved the concept, fdeas, plan of work and dfd feld work; SK and TS preparfng the manuscrfpt; SR supervfsed the project and dfd the fnal edffng; TS prepared the map, fgures and fmproved the manuscrfpt; All authors equally contrfbuted to the manuscrfpt. Acknowledgements: The authors wfsh to thank Gayan Karunarathna, Chamara Amarasfnghe, Nayanaka Ranwella, Dfnesh Gabadage, Asanka Udayakumara, Thasun Amarasfnghe, Madhava Botejue, Mendfs Wfckramasfnghe, Tharaka Kusumfnda, vfllage ofcers (Grama Nfladharf) for the study sftes, dfrector generals, park wardens and the Nafonal Parks ofcers of the Department of Wfldlffe Conservafon for thefr support and encouragement durfng the feld surveys. We would lfke to gfve our specfal thanks to Spencer Manuelpfllaf, Tharaka Prfyadarshan, Ishan Senevfratne, Sanjaya Atapatu, Tharaka Kusumfnda, Supun Lahfru Prakash for useful photographs; Dr. Marfnga Sumanadasa and the staf of Faculty of Graduate Studfes fn Unfversfty of Colombo for varfous help; Sanuja Kasthurfarachchf, Dr. Nanda Wfckramasfnghe, Dr. Manorf Nandasena, Chandrfka Munasfnghe and Rasfka Dasanayake (Nafonal Museum Srf Lanka) for assfstance durfng examfnfng collecfons under thefr care; members of the Young Zoologfsts’ Assocfafon of Srf Lanka for varfous help. Ffnally, we thank the anonymous revfewers for construcfve comments on the manuscrfpt. LOGOs 9928 Impact of vehicular traffic on animal mortality in Sri Lanka Karunarathna et al. INTRODUCTION 2010; Karunarathna et al 2012). De Silva (1999) reported a brief account on road mortality of reptiles in Horton Roads impose multiple ecological impacts on local Plains National Park - a popular tourist destination biodiversity including habitat fragmentation, altered in Sri Lanka. In addition, Karunarathna et al. (2012) microclimates with edge effects, nonpoint-source highlighted the severity of roadkills of land monitors, pollution, increased anthropogenic disturbances, high in and around multiple national parks of Sri Lanka rates of pest infestations and non-native invasions, that entertain high volumes of tourists. These studies altered animal behavior, impeded dispersal and emphasized that roadkills in and around protected migration, and altered hydrology (Trombulak & Frissell areas of Sri Lanka are of a critical conservation concern, 2001; Laurance et al. 2009). Being barriers against especially national parks that entertain mass tourism. movements, roads can isolate populations, reduce Given the potential impact of motor traffic on local metapopulation dynamics, lower genetic heterozygosity, wildlife, we investigated wildlife road mortality in two and cause mortality due to vehicular collision (Forman Sri Lankan national parks—Horton Plains National Park & Alexander 1998). Such incidental mortality leads (HNP) and Yala National Park (YNP)—that experience to reduced abundance and diversity of local wildlife high volume of tourists (Fig. 1). Our main objectives in (Gibbs & Shriver 2002; Laurance et al 2008). Continuous this study were to (i) document species that suffer road expansion of the land-based transport networks, their mortality in and around the two national parks, and (ii) linear nature, and increasing traffic volume can amplify identify factors that contribute to roadkills. negative impacts of roadkills on population persistence (Carr & Fahrig 2001; Gibbs & Shriver 2002; Karunarathna Study Areas et al. 2013). Both HNP and YNP are managed by the Department Impacts of road mortality have been mostly studied of Wildlife Conservation under the jurisdiction of the in developed nations where both multi-lane highways Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. Both and volume of motor traffic are growing rapidly national parks are home for unique assemblages of (Taylor & Goldingay 2004). Twenty percent of the US native biodiversity including charismatic megafauna, and landscapes are affected by public road systems, which possess picturesque landscapes that are characteristic include the total spatial coverage of roads, roadsides, of their respective geographies (DWC 2004). and the “road-effect zone” which extends 100m beyond YNP (06021’42.49”N & 81028’45.13”E) is located the roadside (Forman 2000). In New South Wales of in the lowland