During the 2018-2019 newt migration season, we recorded 4,887 newt roadkill victims along with 69 individuals of other species. To date, no mitigations have been put in place, other than the SCC Road Dept. installing eight "Newt Crossing" signs. Therefore, we can probably expect similar road mortality numbers for the upcoming migration season, which will probably commence within two weeks. It's unknown how many newts live in the mountains above Lexington Reservoir. I believe this population is in danger of extermination. How many years can it survive this high mortality rate?
Progress Report:
A dedicated group of professionals is still trying to identify the most appropriate mitigation(s) for the newt mortality on Alma Bridge Rd. and gain funding for the project. The group includes people from the following agencies: UC Davis Road Ecology Dept, Santa Clara County (SCC) Parks & Recreation, (SCC) Roads Dept., Audubon Society, Sierra Club, CA Fish & Wildlife Dept, and Western Ecological Research Center (USGS).
In April, 2019, Dr. Fraser Shilling, UCD Road Ecology Dept., submitted a grant proposal to the CA Wildlife Conservation Board, but without luck. There were too many worthy causes vying for limited funds. He'll try again this coming year.
Volunteers Needed:
The above professionals want to continue to monitor the newt mortality on Alma Bridge Rd. during the upcoming 2019-2020 migration season in order to establish a baseline that can be used to determine the efficacy of any mitigations put in place. I cannot continue this work because I'm currently battling an aggressive cancer. Therefore, I'm asking for volunteers who might be interested in continuing the work @merav and I started last season.
To give you an idea of the amount of work required:
Timeframe: mid-November through mid-April
Frequency: twice per week
Total data collection days: 52
Length of road: 4.1 miles
Observations & photos submitted to iNaturalist: >5,000
Obviously, if more people are involved, the less work for each individual. Meanwhile, if you're hiking in the Lexington Reservoir area, please record any roadkill you come across in the iNaturalist database.
Comentarios
@merav, @biohexx1, @gregpauly, @fmshilling, @newtpatrol, @catchang, @wyattherp, @sambiology,
@alexb0000, @anudibranchmom, @archaeopteryx, @asemerdj, @beartracker, @bradmoon, @brandonh1, @carlosd73, @carrieseltzer, @cesmith, @cliygh-and-mia, @cmstinson, @danieleseglie, @dominic, @erikamitchell, @fieldnotes, @finatic, @graysquirrel, @gshugart, @gyrrlfalcon, @jilliankern, @jmaughn, @joescience1, @johngsalamander , @jt2018, @jubata-not-call-me-pampas, @karenscherrer, @kevinhintsa, @kookamongus, @ktokatlian, @kueda, @leslie_flint, @loarie, @m_aniket, @mgruen, @mikepatterson, @mws, @nancyasquith, @pintail, @richardwasson, @robberfly, @savethesalamanders, @sea-kangaroo, @seanfrogger, @shannonbuttimer, @stupid_bullfrogs, @taricha_dude, @tiwane, @tom-kirschey-nabu
I wish I could help with the surveys, but I live on the other side of the continent. Good luck getting other volunteers, though.
I'm sorry I am no practical use either, thousands of miles away. I'm thinking of you in your battle against cancer!
I wish I was closer and could participate in this. I am sorry to hear about the cancer. Hoping for the best outcome for you.
Really sorry to hear that, I hope for the best soon. If I'm ever in the area I'll see if I can get out there, but I might not get the chance since I don't have a car yet. I'll probably be helping quite a few newts and other amphibians this winter here though
So sorry to hear this news @truthseqr. Is there anything I might be able to help with remotely online? Thinking about you and wishing you the best with your battle against cancer. We are here for you.
Additionally, I can post a call for volunteers in the Wildlife Diseases group. Let me know if this would be okay...
-Stacie
Sorry, sounds like I'm the closest so far but I'm still in Sacramento and can't make it out to the South Bay that regularly. Good luck with everything.
I AM local, and I will help. Please keep me posted as to what is needed (is there a sign-up someplace?), and I will do my best to assist.
I am so impressed by your dedication to documenting this situation and trying to reduce the roadkill situation along this stretch of road. I have forwarded this to others who are closer to you who might be able to get involved. All the best in your battle with cancer.
I'm local too, and will help. It would indeed be great for several of us to commit and spread the work, since I travel frequently and have a lot of work commitments. How long do you typically spend out there on a collection day? Take good care of yourself!
Thank you all for your interest and support. @merav and I agree that if we can't get enough volunteers to do a consistent and thorough survey from Nov 2019 - April 2020, then it would do more harm than good to under-report the newt mortality on Alma Bridge Rd.
Last year I found that it was necessary to visit the study site 2x per week (weekend and mid-week) due to the quick decomposition of roadkill. The entire route is 4.1 miles along Alma Bridge Rd. I'd walk one side of the road taking pictures and return on the other side, thus doubling the mileage to 8.2 miles. Depending on how many dead newts there are to photograph, this would take 3-4 hours. I was only able to spend 2 hrs. mid-week, so I only covered half the distance (@merav covered the other half most weeks). Another point to emphasize, it's important to collect data on rainy as well as dry days. It can be quite miserable photographing dead newts on cold, blustery, rainy days.
This is a big commitment, to be sure. We have good, solid data for the entire 2018-2019 migration season, so if it doesn't work out for the 2019-2020 season, at least we have a baseline.
Sorry , unable to help .
i will put the word out to some folks that live in the bay area that are used to herping/entering data on a regular basis
I wonder if there's a college class, perhaps at West Valley college or elsewhere near enough to Lexington, that would take this up as a project.
@apatten @nmcnear @leptonia I'd be down but couldn't commit to driving 40 min twice a week. Do you know others who might wanna help?
Very sorry to hear that! Hoping for the best for you.
I will probably be out of the country for ~2 months during this rainy season, but I can survey weekly and/or as-needed when I'm home. It's also a 40-min drive for me so it'd be better for my sanity & carbon footprint if I'm not going twice a week, but hopefully we can get a south bay crew together. One thing I could do even when away though is coordinate the data entry/sign-up sheet, which would save you some time at least. Unless @merav has that handled already?
I can commit to a survey once a week, during most of the season. I'm not sure I could do the whole road. Last year I coordinated with Anne and did about half the road. If we have enough people, this would be much easier than doing the whole thing every week.
A couple of suggestions - let's see if we could get a few more people to volunteer. If we can, maybe we could get good coverage for a shorter time period. I think it will be difficult to cover the entire newt-season. Another option would be to try and answer specific questions - maybe checking the effect of specific weather conditions?
@sea-kangaroo, it would be great if you could set up a sign-up sheet so we know where we stand in terms of coverage. So far, the following people have shown interest in participating in the study: @merav, @joescience1, @anudibranchmom, @newtpatrol, and yourself.
@truthseqr I am so very sorry to hear this! I'm currently living across the country, but I can try to put the word out. Your work has done so much good in raising awareness. I hope we can find a local crew to continue the surveying this season.
I'm wondering... what would it mean if fewer newts were found dead this season? Could we conclude that the population is being diminished by roadkill? How does one estimate the total number of newts in the area and the impact of roadkill on the population? If anyone is aware of scientific papers on this topic, I'd be very interested in reading about it.
I would think that two data points aren't enough to form a solid trend, especially given how different the rainy season is shaping up to be from last year. They do tend to go on the move when it rains, but I don't know if fewer make the journey on dry years or not.
Looks like rain's supposed to start Tuesday, I assume the newts won't be far behind. Good luck everyone.
We currently have commitments for:
-half the road once a week for the full season
-half/all the road once a week for most of the season (excluding holiday weeks) on a not-Thursday day
-half(/maybe occasionally all) the road once a week for the season (excluding unknown-as-yet travel) on a weekday
-once a month on a weekend
I can do half the road once a week from tomorrow until Christmas on Tuesdays, and then I'll be out of town until mid-February. After that I have some unknown-as-yet travel as well, but when in town can definitely fill in whenever needed to cover travel/give people a break. I've been having knee troubles so can't commit to the whole road, but if it continues to behave I'd be able to do the whole road after February.
So looks like we should be covered! Anyone else potentially interested do message me at any time, as there's not much overlap and it'd be great to have substitutes available in case one of us, say, messes up their knee again and can't survey for a while.
Current volunteers: Are we all happy to use Google Calendar for scheduling? Anyone with a Gmail/Google account will be able to add their surveying to the calendar with two clicks, and anyone without a G account will still be able to view the full calendar, just I'll have to add their survey days for them. If that sounds fine then go ahead and message/email me your email, and I'll get editing permissions set up. (if there's anyone that doesn't want to communicate by email that's fine, just let me know)
@merav @newtpatrol @anudibranchmom @joescience1
@truthseqr It's supposed to rain this Tuesday, and I'll be in San Jose this Tuesday anyway. Should I go ahead and survey, or will there not be newts until the next day (or later)?
Wow - this is super! Thanks volunteers!!!
I set up a project for this season. Volunteer team, please join the project below. I'll give @merav and @sea-kangaroo administrator privileges:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newts-dead-2019-2020-lexington-reservoir-area
@sea-kangaroo, I'm very sorry to hear about your knee. Hopefully it heals quickly.
One newt observation from Lexington was seen in October of this year, so some newts may already be out and about: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35096907
I read a paper that claimed the newts start migrating after a certain amount of rainfall (>1 inch? - I forget; I'll try to find that article). I was up at Lexington today to hang my poster and didn't see any newts (alive or dead). To answer your question - it's up to you if you want to go on Tuesday. Last year I saw 9 live newts on the second day of rain (cum 0.8 inches). I didn't see the first dead newt until the 5th day of rain (cum 1.5 inches).
Here's the reference I was thinking of, but this paper is about the Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander, not Pacific Newts:
"With the first winter rains in November and December adults migrate en mass from their upland habitat to ponds for breeding (Reed, 1978). Breeding cannot commence until ponds fill and as such, adults do not emerge until the ground has saturated. Records show that when seasonal rainfall exceeds 10.7 cm (4.2”) adults are triggered to begin migrating, with continued rainfall needed to sustain the migration (Anderson, 1966).
Fall 2013 Amphibian Mortality on Roads: A Case Study in Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander Habitat, by Michael Thomas Hobbs San Jose State University: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4389/
Our data from last year show that 1 newt was found dead on the road after 1.5" of rain and 59 were found dead after accumulation of 3.4" of rain.
Hi all,
Have you been in contact with Dr. Alan Shabel at UC Berkeley? He does road surveys in Tilden RP before/during the road closure of South Park Drive. I'm sure he has evidence that the closure has decreased road mortality.
Thanks for the contact info, Shannon (@shannonbuttimer). I'll forward this info to the team working on mitigations/funding. Last year representatives from Sierra Club and Audubon Society sent a strongly worded letter to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors requesting that they close Alma Bridge Road. The County Supervisors, and specifically the SCC Roads Dept. flatly refused to close the road, citing resident and business interests.
@truthseqr , a while back you asked for any papers that talk about herp road mortality. Here are a couple forwarded to me from a student at Stanford, not sure if they're useful, but possibly (sorry for the ugly URL, I don't see a way to attach docs or embed URLs): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/teazbcqnlkj8dpz/AAAaPYfUvDY4B6NrIcNG14aga?dl=0
Thanks for the references, @newtpatrol! The first article about the turtles in Florida is fascinating. The author is one very dedicated herpetologist!!! He single-handedly counted 10,229 reptiles & amphibians of 44 species and saved thousands of turtles and other herps - he deserves a medal!
I'm looking for a study that tells how to estimate newt population size. I've heard population estimates ranging from 45,000 to millions of newts in the mountains around Lexington Reservoir. I'm wondering how to get a more accurate estimate. How will we know if the massive roadkill numbers are adversely affecting the total population size if we don't know the baseline population? My sense is that the population was is being annihilated by roadkill. How can any population withstand 5,000+ deaths per year?
Here's one paper that describes a method for estimating newt population size. Apparently, the newts are "marked" by amputating digits (how barbaric & godawful is that?)
Bias in estimation of newt population size: A field study at five ponds using drift fences, pitfalls and funnel traps
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233733449_Bias_in_estimation_of_newt_population_size_A_field_study_at_five_ponds_using_drift_fences_pitfalls_and_funnel_traps
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