Roads are a major cause of wildlife mortality by animal-vehicle-collisions (AVCs). We monitored the patterns and frequency of AVCs on two sections of a major highway in Northern Tanzania and compared these patterns to the knowledge and perceptions of drivers who frequently use the roads. While actual field survey showed that more birds were killed by AVCs, mammals were perceived by the drivers to be the most common AVC. Drivers were indifferent to whether AVCs were a major problem on the road, and 67% strongly felt that AVCs were mainly accidental, either due to high vehicle speed or poor visibility at night. There was a negative correlation between the likelihood of a species being hit by vehicles and its average body mass. Only 35% of drivers said they had attended an educational program related to the impact of roads on wildlife. This study highlights a need for collaborative efforts between the wildlife conservation and road departments to educate road users on the importance of driving responsibly and exercising due care for wildlife and human safety. This should be coupled with effective mitigation measures to reduce the extent of AVCs.

Emerging infectious diseases have recently increased in wildlife and can result in population declines and the loss of genetic diversity in susceptible populations. As populations of impacted species decline, genetic diversity can be lost, with ramifications including reduced effective population size and increased population structuring. For species of conservation concern, which may already have low genetic diversity, the loss of genetic diversity can be especially important. To investigate the impacts of a novel pathogen on genetic diversity in a genetically depauperate endangered species, we assessed the ramifications of a sylvatic plague-induced bottleneck in black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes). Following a plague epizootic, we genotyped 184 ferrets from Conata Basin and Badlands National Park, South Dakota, at seven microsatellite loci. We compared our results to pre-plague studies in the same population. We observed population substructuring into three genetic clusters. These clusters reflect founder effects from ferret reintroduction events followed by genetic drift. Compared to the pre-plague population, we observed losses of allelic diversity in all clusters, as well as significantly reduced heterozygosity in one cluster. These results indicate that disease epizootics may reduce population size and also genetic diversity. Our results suggest the importance of early and sustained management in mitigating disease epizootics in naïve populations for the maintenance of genetic diversity.

Dragonflies reside in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, depending on their life stage, necessitating the conservation of drastically different habitats; however, little is understood about how nymph and adult dragonflies function as metapopulations within connected habitat. We used genetic techniques to examine nymphs and adults within a single metapopulation both spatially and temporally to better understand metapopulation structure and the processes that might influence said structure. We sampled 97 nymphs and 149 adult Sympetrum obtrusum from eight locations, four aquatic, and four terrestrial, at the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute in Southwest Michigan over two summers. We performed AFLP genetic analysis and used the Bayesian analysis program STRUCTURE to detect genetic clusters from sampled individuals. STRUCTURE detected k = u4 populations, in which nymphs and adults from the same locations collected in different years did not necessarily fall into the same clusters. We also evaluated grouping using the statistical clustering analyses NMDS and MRPP. The results of these confirmed findings from STRUCTURE and emphasized differences between adults collected in 2012 and all other generations. These results suggest that both dispersal and a temporal cycle of emergence of nymphs from unique clusters every other year could be influential in structuring dragonfly populations, although our methods were not able to fully distinguish the influences of either force. This study provides a better understanding of local dragonfly metapopulation structure and provides a starting point for future studies to investigate the spatial and temporal mechanisms controlling metapopulation structure. The results of the study should prove informative for managers working to preserve genetic diversity in connected dragonfly metapopulations, especially in the face of increasing anthropogenic landscape changes.

Aim: The development of natural habitats into urban land uses has greatly accelerated in the recent past due to human activities. This habitat development disrupts species' natural dispersal processes and can lead to both direct and indirect impacts on dispersal. Whether human activities result in restricted or facilitated dispersal may depend on a species' development tolerance; however, this premise has not been tested. We examined the impact of urbanization and road networks on the dispersal of three lizard species in the context of their development tolerance.Location: Curaçao.Methods: To quantify species' development tolerance, we modelled three lizard species abundances at sites based on surrounding landscape development. Using microsatellite genotypes, we conducted individual‐based resistance surface analyses and modelled the effect of habitat development on genetic admixture to assess indirect dispersal restriction and facilitation. We explored direct facilitation of dispersal using network analysis of mitochondrial haplotypes.Results: Phyllodactylus martini, a native gecko species, was the least tolerant of development and experienced indirect dispersal restriction due to roads, according to resistance surface analyses. Anolis lineatus, a native anole species, exhibited a neutral relationship with development. Resistance surfaces and Structure analyses showed that A. lineatus faced indirect dispersal restrictions from roads and developed areas, while mitochondrial haplotype networks suggested they benefited from occasional human‐facilitated long‐distance dispersal events. Hemidactylus mabouia, an introduced gecko species, was the most tolerant of development, and experienced no dispersal restriction, but mitochondrial haplotypes suggest direct long‐distance dispersal facilitation.Main Conclusions: Our findings highlight development tolerance as a key predictor of dispersal impact for these species and future work should test whether these patterns are upheld in other systems. Understanding how human activities affect species' dispersal will aid in managing introduced species while promoting connectivity for native species navigating dispersal challenges in dynamic landscapes.