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The Road Not Taken: The Effect of Road Intensity on Carrion Beetle Diversity

The Road Not Taken: The Effect of Road Intensity on Carrion Beetle Diversity. Heather Graham-Alexander, Bubu Bennett, Kim Charlie Ellen Creveling, James Danoff-Burg, Illisa Kelman Angeline Valentine, Marta Vicarelli Black Rock Forest SEE-U 2000 Columbia University. Introduction.

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The Road Not Taken: The Effect of Road Intensity on Carrion Beetle Diversity

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  1. The Road Not Taken:The Effect of Road Intensity on Carrion Beetle Diversity Heather Graham-Alexander, Bubu Bennett,Kim Charlie Ellen Creveling, James Danoff-Burg, Illisa Kelman Angeline Valentine, Marta Vicarelli Black Rock Forest SEE-U 2000 Columbia University

  2. Introduction • What are the effects of human disturbances on decomposer communities? • Reduced movement as a result of human caused fragmentation • Isolated gene pools and a higher risk of extinction • Decreased ability of vagile species to compete for patchily distributed resources

  3. Linear Clearings/ Edge Effects • Abiotic Changes • Increased light penetration, heat, and wind • Effects can penetrate forest up to 100’s of meters • Smaller areas = Smaller diversity of species • Smaller habitat range • Less resources

  4. Question • What is the effect of road intensity on the diversity of carrion beetle communities? • Road intensity • Traffic • Number of lanes / size • Construction material • Canopy cover

  5. Hypotheses • Road intensity will lessen species diversity • Road intensity will increase species diversity • Road intensity will not affect species diversity

  6. Methods And Materials • Three roads with varying intensity • Single lane dirt road • Double lane paved • Four lane highway • 5 traps baited with carrion placed along each road • Interval of traps set outside of species range • Designed from 2 liter plastic bottles • Bait = chicken thigh TrapUsed

  7. Methods and Materials cont… • After five days retrieved the traps • Counted and sorted the specimens • Recorded and analyzed data

  8. Average Abundance – Nicrophorus tomentosus

  9. Species Average Abundance – All Other Species

  10. Species Average Richness – All Species

  11. Conclusions • Species abundance was highest in lowest road intensity areas • Average richness of species is higher in the medium intensity road condition • Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis may be an explanation of this phenomenon • Particular site may have had favorable conditions for an increased diversity in species • Nicrophorus tomentosus is a generalist species and thus most abundant and most widely distributed

  12. Works Cited

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