Bad moon rising? The influence of the lunar cycle on amphibian roadkills.

Annually, roads, and their associated users, are responsible for millions of roadkills worldwide. Mortality affects multiple taxonomic groups, but amphibians are particularly vulnerable, due to their size and underreporting. In fact, very high mortality frequencies can occur, mostly during short periods of time, when individuals migrate to and from reproduction areas (e.g., ponds). In this study, we assess the influence of the lunar cycle on amphibian roadkills, while accounting for weather conditions. As expected, the main environmental effects explaining roadkill numbers were weather related, with increases in minimum air temperature, average relative air humidity, and cumulative rainfall during the previous 24 h having a positive effect on roadkill numbers for all studied species. However, the lunar cycle also affected roadkills for two of the studied species. Darker nights had higher numbers of roadkills of Pleurodeles waltl, while moonlit nights had higher numbers of Salamandra salamandra. As such, these moon effects are species specific. Animals that are more active in moonlight may be at an advantage if their visual acuity is better than that of their predators. We hypothesize that differences between species in the response to moonlight may be due to differences perceived in predation risk. This information should be considered when designing mitigation measures. Volunteer actions, for instance, can be planned and coordinated keeping in mind the most appropriate weather conditions for the general amphibian community and specific phases of the lunar cycle for particular species.

Datos y Recursos

Cite como

Mestre F. Lopes H. Pinto T. Sousa L.G. Mira A. y Santos S.M. Bad moon rising? The influence of the lunar cycle on amphibian roadkills. Springer, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-019-1285-3

Clipboard Icon
Recuperado: 14 Nov 2025 16:08:12
RIS BibTeX

Metadatos
Descargar
DCAT-AP/NTI-RISP

Información básica
Tipo de recurso Texto
Fecha de creación 23-05-2025
Fecha de última modificación 23-05-2025
Mostrar histórico de cambios
Identificador de los metadatos f963cbd5-e303-5db3-af53-00227d20e96a
Idioma de los metadatos Español
Temáticas (NTI-RISP)
Categoría del conjunto de alto valor (HVD)
Categoría temática ISO 19115 biota
URI de palabras clave
Información bibliográfica
Nombre del autor Mestre, F., Lopes, H., Pinto, T., Sousa, L.G., Mira, A. y Santos, S.M.
Nombre del editor Springer
Identificador alternativo DOI: 10.1007/s10344-019-1285-3
Identificador del autor
Email del autor
Web del autor
Procedencia
Declaración de linaje
Perfil de Metadatos
Notas sobre la versión
Versión