wes_von_papineäu
Our Roving Correspondent
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- Wes von Papineäu
DAILY CALIFORNIAN (Berkeley, California) 06 November 07 Park Road Closure Breeds Happy Newts (Chang Cai)
What used to be a death zone for love-struck newts has been cleared for the creatures’ safe passage to their breeding grounds.
<Edited by John due to locality info> announced Nov. 1 that it would close <Edited by John due to locality info> to traffic until March, providing safe passage for newts in the beginning of their breeding season.
Newts disperse into the ground to hibernate during the summer and migrate to nearby ponds during the winter to mate, said Dave Zuckermann, supervising naturalist of the East Bay Regional Park District.
But the road causes problems because the newts’ winter breeding habitat is on one side, while their summer hibernation habitat is on the other.
“The habitat is cut in half,” Zuckermann said.
At least dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of newts are killed every day by cars, so the road closure helps to remove one of the amphibian’s major predators, he said.
Carol Spencer, curator of UC Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, said the newts do not realize there is a road in the way.
“Where the road is now used to be a forest,” she said.
The park closes the road to vehicles every year in an effort to take care of its wildlife and respond to the community’s environmental concerns.
“The park is trying to preserve wildlife and fight fragmentation of habitats,” Zuckermann said. “It’s hard to support life in an ecosystem (when) it is broken into smaller, less diverse, less rich pieces.”
The park has two species of newts, which are poisonous salamanders of about six inches in length. California newts, easily identifiable by their reddish-brown backs and yellow underbellies, are most common to the region.
Tracking the park’s newts is difficult because they emerge only during periods of humidity or rain, Zuckermann said.
David Wake, professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, said the November date for road closure is too late because newts begin breeding when the rainy season starts in early fall.
He said the park should lengthen the duration of the road closure because newts respond to humid weather, not arbitrary dates set by the park. He said about 49 newts were killed in one night in the beginning of October.
Wake, who has studied newts for 40 years, said the devastating effect of traffic has depleted newt population drastically.
“Newts used to be extremely common,” Wake said. “(Now) the numbers are way down.”
While the road is closed, drivers can take a detour that adds a little over one mile to reach their destinations, Zuckermann said.
Zuckermann said the road blockage does not inconvenience residents near the park because they can choose to walk or bike.
“(The road closure) is the real, tangible thing to protect these creatures, which are important parts of the ecosystem,” he said.
What used to be a death zone for love-struck newts has been cleared for the creatures’ safe passage to their breeding grounds.
<Edited by John due to locality info> announced Nov. 1 that it would close <Edited by John due to locality info> to traffic until March, providing safe passage for newts in the beginning of their breeding season.
Newts disperse into the ground to hibernate during the summer and migrate to nearby ponds during the winter to mate, said Dave Zuckermann, supervising naturalist of the East Bay Regional Park District.
But the road causes problems because the newts’ winter breeding habitat is on one side, while their summer hibernation habitat is on the other.
“The habitat is cut in half,” Zuckermann said.
At least dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of newts are killed every day by cars, so the road closure helps to remove one of the amphibian’s major predators, he said.
Carol Spencer, curator of UC Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, said the newts do not realize there is a road in the way.
“Where the road is now used to be a forest,” she said.
The park closes the road to vehicles every year in an effort to take care of its wildlife and respond to the community’s environmental concerns.
“The park is trying to preserve wildlife and fight fragmentation of habitats,” Zuckermann said. “It’s hard to support life in an ecosystem (when) it is broken into smaller, less diverse, less rich pieces.”
The park has two species of newts, which are poisonous salamanders of about six inches in length. California newts, easily identifiable by their reddish-brown backs and yellow underbellies, are most common to the region.
Tracking the park’s newts is difficult because they emerge only during periods of humidity or rain, Zuckermann said.
David Wake, professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, said the November date for road closure is too late because newts begin breeding when the rainy season starts in early fall.
He said the park should lengthen the duration of the road closure because newts respond to humid weather, not arbitrary dates set by the park. He said about 49 newts were killed in one night in the beginning of October.
Wake, who has studied newts for 40 years, said the devastating effect of traffic has depleted newt population drastically.
“Newts used to be extremely common,” Wake said. “(Now) the numbers are way down.”
While the road is closed, drivers can take a detour that adds a little over one mile to reach their destinations, Zuckermann said.
Zuckermann said the road blockage does not inconvenience residents near the park because they can choose to walk or bike.
“(The road closure) is the real, tangible thing to protect these creatures, which are important parts of the ecosystem,” he said.
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