v5i2.106

Submitted date: 16 June 2013
Accepted date: 6 December 2013
Published date: 25 December 2013
Pp. 111–119, Pls. 1–2.

IMPACT OF VEHICULAR TRAFFIC ON HERPETOFAUNAL MORTALITY IN A SAVANNAH FOREST, EASTERN SRI LANKA

D.M.S. Suranjan Karunarathna, Sujan M. Henkanaththegedara, A. A. Thasun Amarasinghe* & Anslem de Silva
*Corresponding author. E-mail: thasun.taprobanica@gmail.com

Abstract
Mortality of wildlife due to vehicular traffic is among the direct impacts when natural habitats are dissected with roads. This study presents the herpetofaunal mortality on a 3km stretch of a highway crossing Nilgala Forest Area (NFA), a savanna dominated forest in Nilgala, eastern Sri Lanka. A total of 72 species of herpetofauna including 53 reptiles and 19 amphibians were recorded as road kills of which 19 species (26.3%) are endemic to Sri Lanka and 22 species (30.5%) are threatened nationally. A total of 552 road killed individuals (23.6% of tetrapod reptiles, 40.2% of serpentoid reptiles and 36.2% amphibians) were recorded over 48 days.

Key words : Road kills, reptiles, amphibians, threats, human impact, conservation

Section Editor: Ruchira Somaweera