Discarded containers along roadways trap and kill small mammals. Significant numbers of small-mammal remains were found inside containers along Cherokee National Forest roads in remotes areas in a previous study. In this study, we investigated the effects of containers along a 5.5 km stretch of a more heavily used 2-lane forest service road in the Cherokee National Forest. 308 containers were collected from five different pull-off sites and within those were 13 small-mammal skulls representing 5 species of mammals including Sorex longirostris (Southeastern Shrew) and Synaptomys cooperi (Southern Bog Lemming), which are deemed species of greatest conservation need and in need of management by the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. Like the previous study, it was found that glass bottles disproportionately trapped more small mammals than plastic or aluminum. Additionally, we also discovered the orientation and can openings for all available containers and found that containers oriented upslope (>15°) were significantly more likely to have a mortality impact than any other container orientation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1066 |
| Date | 05 April 2018 |
| Creators | Dempsey, Brian |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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