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Document Type

Peer-Review Article

Abstract

Although road mortality of vertebrates has been well studied, road mortality of invertebrates has rarely been studied or considered in management scenarios. Mackinac Bay is an extensive coastal wetland in northern Michigan. It is bordered by a two-lane paved highway that separates the marsh, where dragonflies defend territories and breed, from the adjacent forest where dragonflies forage and rest. During mid-summer of 1997, daily collections of dragonfly corpses from the road and road edge were used to estimate daily mortality rates and sex ratios among casualties. Daily mortality was highly variable, ranging from 10 to 256 casualties per kilometer. Sex ratios among casualties were generally male-skewed (60% or higher). Life-history differences between the sexes present a parsimonious explanation for male- specific mortality. Mortality was even or female-skewed for some species, and impacts of road mortality may be more severe in populations where mortality is female-skewed. More research about the effects of roads on dragonflies is warranted because dragonfly populations are small relative to many invertebrates and are restricted to wetland habitats which are being degraded or destroyed in many regions.

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Entomology Commons

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