amphibians and land transport infrastructure crossing devices

**Amphibians and land transport infrastructure crossing devices** Inventory of land transport infrastructure crossing devices by amphibians. This work was carried out by the trainees and study managers of the Biodiversity Group Nature Management in the City of Cerema East. Background: According to the latest assessments by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 40% of amphibian species are threatened worldwide. In France, among other threat factors, a significant part of the decline of amphibians is linked to the densification of the land transport infrastructure network (ITT), in particular road transport, which induces both a significant mortality of individuals, but also a loss and fragmentation of their habitats, leading to the isolation or even extinction of populations. This phenomenon of anthropization and urbanization of environments increased particularly in the middle and end of the 20th century and more than one million kilometres of motorways, urban and interurban expressways, national, departmental and communal roads, now link the territory. As a result, the possibilities for amphibian movement in such landscapes are shrinking even as most species, in our latitudes, have a life cycle between the aquatic and terrestrial environment, which involves seasonal migrations. In addition, this densification of road networks leads to an increased risk of amphibian crashes. Some extrapolations made by scientists estimate between 25 and 50 million adults killed each year during the spring migration without even counting juveniles. As part of an internship conducted in 2016 under the supervision of Cerema-Est, a national survey was conducted among 200 public and private structures, in order to carry out an inventory of the devices (temporary and permanent) crossing land transport infrastructure in favor of amphibians. At the same time, Cerema carries out assessments and diagnoses of the creation of this type of work and other alternative corrective measures (road closure, creation of compensatory ponds, etc.). It is drafting a feedback guide and has initiated, in collaboration with various private and public partners in France, a study with a view to developing a national protocol for evaluating the effectiveness of sustainable schemes at local level for the sections of roads concerned. Another key action in the work on this issue would be the creation of a shared database, gathering detailed information on all schemes. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve a free and participatory database, allowing consultation and data entry for all interested persons / structures. The spatial data provided here includes geolocation information and the type of devices identified in the 2016 survey (non-exhaustive survey). This mapping and database should soon be fed with the information collected in the framework of the REX guide.