Mortality of wild amphibians and reptiles admitted to a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Northern Portugal (2009 – 2017)

Andreia Garcês, Felisbina Queiroga, Fernando Pacheco, Luis Sanches Fernandes, Vanessa Soeiro, Sara Lóio, Justina Prada, Rui Cortes, Isabel Pires

Abstract


The data from 78 native species of reptiles and amphibians admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Parque Biológico de Gaia (Portugal) from 2009 to 2017 were revised to determine the main causes of morbidity and mortality. These data include four different orders: order Squamata (51.3%), order Testudinata (12.8%), order Anura (12.8%), and order Caudata (2.6%). 92.3% of the considered admittances were adults arriving during spring (41%) and autumn (29.5%). The main causes of admission to Rehabilitation Center were animals debilitated (12.8%) and injured (66.7%). Trauma was the major cause of mortality (78.2%). Unknown origin was the main cause of traumatic (71.8%) and non-traumatic (9.0%) death, followed by captivity related lesions (6.4%). These animals are excellent bioindicators of the health of the ecosystem and enable the identification of the main threats affecting them, especially those of anthropogenic origin. Studies of mortality on wild reptiles and amphibians are important to understand which the main threats and how human activity is affecting these populations.

Keywords


Amphibian; anthropogenic factors; bioindicators; mortality; north of Portugal; Reptile

Full Text:

PDF

References


Allain S. J. R. and Smith L. T. (2016), «Newt mortalities on an urban cycle path», Herpetol. Bull., 138(1), 27 – 28.

Araújo M. B., Thuiller W., and Pearson R. G. (2006), «Climate warming and the decline of amphibians and reptiles in Europe», J. Biogeogr., 33(1), 1712 – 1728.

Auliya M., Altherr, S., Ariano-Sanchez D., Baard E. H., Brown C., Brown R. M., Cantu J. C., Gentile G., Gildenhuys P., Henningheim E., Hintzmann J., Kanari K., Krvavac M., Lettink M., Lippert J., Luiselli L., Nilson G., Nguyen T. Q., Nijman V., Parham J. F., Pasachnik S. A., Pedrono M., Rauhaus A., Córdova D. R., Sanchez M. E., Schepp U., van Schingen M., Schneeweiss N., Segniagbeto G. H., Somaweera R., Sy E. Y., Türkozan O., Vinke S., Vinke T., Vyas R., Williamson S., and Ziegler T. (2016), «Trade in live reptiles, its impact on wild populations, and the role of the European market», Biol. Conserv., 204(1), 103 – 119.

Brito J. (2018), Conservação dos Répteis no Noroeste de Portugal [Reptile Conservation in Northwest Portugal], http:// naturlink.pt/print.aspx?menuid=23&cid=68812&viewall= true&print=true (last accessed on August 29, 2018) [in Portuguese].

Brown J. D. and Sleeman J. M. (2002), «Morbidity and Mortality of Reptiles Admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, 1991 To 2000», J. Wildl. Dis., 38(4), 699 – 705.

Budzik, K. A. and Budzik K. M. (2014), «A preliminary report of amphibian mortality patterns on railways», Acta Herpetol., 9(1), 103 – 107.

Butchart S. H. M. (2010), «Global Biodiversity: Indicators of recent declines», Science, 328(5982), 1164 – 1169.

Cabral M. J., J. Almeida P. R., Almeida T., Delliger N., Ferrand de Almeida M. E. Oliveira J. M., Palmeirim A. I., Queirós L., Rogado M., and Santos-Reis M. (2005), Livro Vermelho dos Vertebrados de Portugal [Red Book of Vertebrates from Portugal], Instituto da Conservação da Natureza, Lisbon, Portugal [in Portuguese].

Carniche A. and Nord-Orientale I. (2016), «Road mortality of amphibians and reptiles along two roads in the carnic alps (Friuli, north-eastern Italy) before and after asphalting», Atti Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Trieste, 58(7), 161 – 170

Carrascal M., Dura L., Bosch J., Walker S., and Fisher M. C. (2007), «Climate change and outbreaks of amphibian chytridiomycosis in a montane area of Central Spain; is there a link?» Proc. R. Soc. B. Biol., 274(1), 253 – 260.

Churcher P. B. and Lawton J. H. (1987), «Predation by domestic cats in an English village», J. Zool., 212(1), 439 – 455.

Coffin A. W. (2007), «From roadkill to road ecology: A review of the ecological effects of roads», J. Transport. Geogr., 15(5), 396 – 406.

D’Amico M., Román J., de los Reyes L., and Revilla E. (2015), «Vertebrate road-kill patterns in Mediterranean habitats: Who, when and where», Biol. Conserv., 191(1), 234 – 242.

Daisie M. (2009), Handbook of Alien Species in Europe, Springer, USA.

Elzanowski A. and Ciesio J. (2009), «Amphibian road mortality in Europe: a meta-analysis with new data from Poland», Eur. J. Wild. Res., 55(1), 33 – 43.

Ferrand de Almeida H., Ferrand de Almeida N., Gonçalves H., Sequeira F., Teixeira J., and Ferrand de Almeida F. (2001), Guia Fapas Anfíbios e Répteis de Portugal [Fapas Guide of reptiles and amphibians of Portugal], FAPAS, Porto [in Portuguese].

Garcês A., Soeiro V., Lóio S., Prada J., Silva F., and Pires I. (2018), «Necropsy findings and causes of mortality in wild mammals, reptiles and amphibians in a Wildlife Centre in the North of Portugal», Rev. Electr. Vet., 19(8), 1 – 24.

Gibbons J. W., Scott D. E., Trajrya N., Kurt A., Mills T., Leiden Y., Poppy S., and Winne C. T. (2018), «The Global Decline of Reptiles, Déjà Vu Amphibians», Bioscience, 50(8), 653 – 666.

Hartup B. K. (1996), «Rehabilitation of native reptiles and amphibians in DuPage County, Illinois», J. Wild. Dis., 32(1), 109 – 112.

Heigl F., Horvath K., Laaha G., and Zaller J. G. (2017), «Amphibian and reptile road-kills on tertiary roads in relation to landscape structure: Using a citizen science approach with open-access land cover data», BMC Ecol., 17(1), 1 – 11.

ICNF (2018), Projeto LIFE+ Trachemys, ICNF — Inst. Conserv. da Nat. e Floresta, http://www2.icnf.pt/portal/pn/biodiversidade/gestao-biodiv/prog-proj/trachemys (accessed on August 29, 2018).

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2014), Summary Statistics for Globally Threatened Species. Table 1. Numbers of Threatened Species by Major Groups of Organisms (1996 – 2014). https://www.iucnredlist.org (last accessed on August 29, 2018).

Joya F. L. M. and Ramos E. (2018), «Reptile road mortality in a fragmented landscape of the middle Magdalena Reptile road mortality in a fragmented landscape of the middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia», Herpetol. Notes, 11(1), 81 – 91.

Kovács A., Mammen U. C. C., and Wernham C. V. (2008), «European monitoring for raptors and owls: state of the art and future needs», Ambio, 37(6), 408 – 412.

Loss S. R., Will T., and Marra P. P. (2013), «The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States», Nat. Comm., 4(1396), 1 – 7.

Loureiro A., Almeida F., Carretero M. A., and Paulo O. S. (2008), Atlas dos Anfíbios e Répteis [Atlas of amphibians and reptiles], Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e da Biodiversidade, Lisbon [in Portuguese].

Matos C., Sillero N., and Argana E. (2012), «Spatial analysis of Amphibian road mortality levels in northern Portugal country roads», Amphibia–Reptilia, 33(3), 469 – 483.

Miaud C., Coise Pozet F., Grand Gaudin N. C., Martel A., Pasmans F., and Labrut S. (2016), «Ranavirus causes mass die-offs of alpine amphibians in the southwestern alps, France», J. Wildl. Dis., 52(2), 242 – 252.

Mühldorfer K., Speck S., and Wibbelt G. (2011), «Diseases in free-ranging bats from Germany», BMC Vet. Res., 7(1), 61.

Rijks J. M., Saucedo B., Sluijs M., and Der A. S. (2016), «Investigation of Amphibian Mortality Events in Wildlife Reveals an On-Going Ranavirus Epidemic in the North of the Netherlands», PLoS One, 11(6), 1 – 15.

Rollins-Smith L. A. (2017), «Amphibian immunity-stress, disease, and climate change», Dev. Comp. Immunol., 66(1), 111 – 119.

Rosa G. M., Sabino-Pinto J., Laurentino T. G., Martel A., Pasmans F., Rebelo R., Griffiths R. A., Stöhr A. C., Marschang R. E., Price S. J., Garner T. W. J., and Bosch J. (2017), «Impact of asynchronous emergence of two lethal pathogens on amphibian assemblages», Sci. Rep., 7(1), 432 – 460.

Scheelings F. T. (2015), «Morbidity and mortality of reptiles admitted to the Australian wildlife health centre 200-13», J. Wildl. Dis., 51(3), 712 – 718.

Schenk A. (2017), «Causes of Morbidity and Mortality of Wildlife Species Presented to a Wildlife Clinic in East Tennessee, USA, 2000 – 2011», J. Vet. Sci. Anim. Husb., 5(4), 1 – 6.

Schenk A. N. and Souza M. J. (2014), «Major anthropogenic causes for and outcomes of wild animal presentation to a wildlife clinic in East Tennessee, USA, 2000 – 2011», PLoS One, 9(3), 1 – 3.

Schlaepfer M. A., Hoover C., and Jr C. K. D. (2018), «Challenges in Evaluating the Impact of the Trade in Amphibians and Reptiles on Wild Populations», Bioscience, 55(3), 256 – 264.

Sillero N. (2008), «Amphibian mortality levels on Spanish country roads: descriptive and spatial analysis», Amphibia– Reptilia, 29(1), 337 – 347.

Stacy B. A. and Parker J. M. (2004), «Amphibian oncology», Exot. Anim. Pract., 7(3), 673 – 695.

Stenkat J., Krautwald-Junghanns M. E., and Schmidt V. (2013), «Causes of morbidity and mortality in free-living birds in an Urban environment in Germany», Ecohealth, 10(4), 352 – 365.

Venturino A., Rosenbaum E., Caballero De Castro A., Anguiano O. L., Gauna L., Fonovich de Schroeder T., and Pechen de D’Angelo A. M. (2003), «Biomarkers of effect in toads and frogs», Biomarkers, 8(3), 167 – 186.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-2-89-96

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


You can subscribe to the print or electronic version of the journal on the site of EastView Company. If you have any questions, please write to the email sales@ivis.ru