Wildlife tunnel recommendations to help endangered turtles
Researchers from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute have found that making some design changes to wildlife tunnels could improve survival rates of the southwestern snake-necked turtle.
Freshwater turtles are among the most threatened groups of vertebrates globally and in the modern world of highly urbanised wetlands, they fight a constant battle for survival once they leave the safety of their aquatic home to nest on land, the Institute says.
Until now, information on the effective design of eco passages to enable their safe movement from one side of the road to the other has been limited.
The Institute’s research indicated that this species (Chelodina oblonga) would likely significantly benefit from installation of newly designed tunnels, as well as simple changes being made to existing wildlife tunnels, to improve their chances of a successful road crossing.
“Freshwater turtles undergo seasonal migrations across terrestrial landscapes for nesting, as well as movement away from undesirable habitat conditions,” Harry Butler Institute turtle ecologist Dr Anthony Santoro said.
“As part of this research, we tested whether differing light levels in tunnels affected their ability to use them successfully to safely negotiate road crossings.
“Turtles in the light treatment were significantly more likely to cross the tunnel, with 97.3% of turtles in the light treatment successfully crossing, compared with only 30% of the turtles in the dark tunnels.
“As a result of this study, our suggestions are either to construct new underpasses with open grate tops in wetland areas surrounded by roads, where vehicle-strikes of the turtles commonly occur, or to modify existing underpasses to increase light levels.
“Where this is not possible, artificial lighting could be installed.”
Image credit:Â Saving our Snake Necked Turtle group. Saving Our Snake-Necked Turtle | Perth WA | Facebook
