A study of roadkill in New Jersey examines how animals move—or don't move—throughout the Garden State

 New Jersey is researching the movement of animals in the state using samples taken from a variety of places, including roadkill.

By Jason Nark

January 15, 2023

 

Fawns in North Jersey travel beneath Route 80. Cameras have also lately captured endangered species including opossums, bear cubs, and bobcats using the tunnels. (NJDEP)

                                 With 9.2 million inhabitants from High Point to Cape May Point, New Jersey is the state with the highest population density in the country. Animals in the wild find it difficult to cross the road here.

The Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey project of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Fish & Wildlife examined 1,669 DNA samples taken from 33 different native mammal species around the state during a recently concluded five-year research. Samples were gathered from both legally harvested animals and roadkill in certain cases. The study, which involved 100 participants and was done with the use of scissors, test tubes, and rubber gloves, discovered that the rapid expansion of New Jersey, with its motorways, roads, and strip malls, hinders people's capacity to distribute and pass on their genes.

According to the study's authors, carnivores like coyotes and bobcats may be struggling the most because of how much space they need in comparison to other species. But for species with smaller home ranges as well, such as woodchucks and Eastern cottontails (rabbits), landscape "resistance" appears to be a problem.

According to the study, bobcats are nearly entirely restricted to the state's northwest, where there is more forest and mountainous terrain. More frequent were animals like raccoons, red foxes, and white-tailed deer. According to the study, Route 1, which traverses the state from east to west, prevents breeding and the expansion of the gene pool in eastern coyotes. Animals on each side of the road have closer kinships than those on the other side.

However, deer, squirrels, and raccoons have evolved, and the density of the state has less of an influence on their genetic makeup. They are completely at home among people in both urban and suburban environments, occasionally eating rubbish and building their nests in attics.

The study discovered that the opossum is the most resilient and a real New Jerseyan who rolls with the punches. According to the authors, opossums taught them a new word: panmixia, which means their genetics are the same across the state and are unaffected by even physical distance.

According to CAHNJ, altering the environment of New Jersey can involve creating "tunnels" for species that turtles, salamanders, and toads can use to go from one marsh to another. While elk, bears, and other large animals now utilise wildlife "overpasses" more often in the West, some of the first ones were constructed in New Jersey's Watchung Reservation. According to several research, animals are still hesitant to use them.

Because they are an endangered species in New Jersey, bobcats in particular require space to wander. According to the Nature Conservancy, they frequently travel up to 7 miles each day, dispersing into Pennsylvania and New York before returning. "Bobcat Alley," a 400,000-acre corridor crossing two mountain ranges in Northern New Jersey that is essential to the feline's habitat, was established by The Nature Conservancy.

The number of bobcats in New Jersey has been calculated to be approximately 100. The number of opossums in the state is unknown, however they can have up to 20 babies at once.

Under the terms of a Creative Commons licence, this article has been taken from The Inquirer. Go here to read the original article.