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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

The common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) is a threatened species in Spain. The loss and transformation of their traditional habitats are among the main causes of its decline. Linear infrastructures, such as roads and highways, cause direct habitat loss, roadkill, and fragmentation of populations by acting as an artificial barrier. In this study, we investigated the potential effect of 2 high-speed road infrastructures in southern Spain on local populations of common chameleons. A total of 34 grids of 1x1 km were sampled, differentiating between grids without road presence (n = 17) and grids with road presence (n = 17). In each of them, a half-hour sampling was carried out after nightfall, with a minimum of 2 people per sampling. The results showed that the presence of the road infrastructure did not determine the presence of chameleons, but it did have a negative effect on their abundance along the surrounding area. These results constitute a first step to improve knowledge on this topic and could be indicative of an avoidance of these areas by chameleons and may even be indicative of a gradual population regression, which could negatively affect the conservation of local populations.

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