Abstract
Mortality of vertebrates was monitored on 2 roads (National Road 168; NR168 and Provincial Road 1; PR1) in Santa Fe Province (Argentina) from October 2007 to August 2008. These roads differed in traffic volume and surrounding landscape management conditions. We also investigated the influence of environmental variables (mean monthly air temperature and monthly total rainfall) on the incidence of road kills. Two people monitored the roads on foot (1 000-m line transects), 3 times a month (36 samples per road). We found 2 024 vertebrate road killed specimens representing 61 species (7 amphibians, 15 reptiles, 32 birds, and 7 mammals). The toad Rhinella fernandezae was the most frequently killed species (n = 1307, 64.57%). NR168 had a higher incidence of vertebrate road kills, particularity for amphibians, whereas birds had a higher incidence of road kills on PR1. We found a positive correlation between precipitation and temperature with vertebrate road kills on PR1. We suggest that vertebrate road mortality is a very serious problem for the conservation of the biodiversity in Santa Fe Province-Argentina, therefore implementing mitigation measures will be necessary.
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