Christmas Island National Park Robber Crab (Birgus latro) Road Kill Monitoring

For detailed ecological metadata and source data see AEKOS (http://www.aekos.org.au/dataset/115022)

The Australian territory of Christmas Island lies in the Indian Ocean, 2,600 km northwest of Perth and 500 km south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Christmas Island National Park is 85 km2 in size and makes up almost two thirds of Christmas Island. The robber crab (Birgus latro) is categorised as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, and Christmas Island is thought to have one of the largest remaining populations. Robber crab road mortality appears to vary with changes in traffic density. Since the opening of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre in late 2009, thousands of robber crabs have been run over on the island's roads in line with the increased population and vehicular traffic, especially at night. Park staff began marking the location of road kills using pink marker paint to denote the sites and make them visible in January 2010. Basic data are collected at the site (sex, size, date, coordinates). To manage the impact of road mortality on the species, this monitoring project is designed to assess: spatial variation in road mortality across the island; temporal variation in road mortality; the relationship between traffic levels and mortality; and size and sex relationships.

如需查阅详细的生态元数据与源数据，请参阅AEKOS：http://www.aekos.org.au/dataset/115022

圣诞岛（Christmas Island）为澳大利亚海外领地，坐落于印度洋海域，距珀斯西北方向2600公里，距印度尼西亚首都雅加达以南500公里。圣诞岛国家公园总面积达85平方公里，占全岛总面积的近三分之二。椰子蟹（Birgus latro）在《世界自然保护联盟红色名录（IUCN Red List）》中被列为数据缺乏等级，而圣诞岛被认为拥有全球现存规模最大的椰子蟹种群之一。椰子蟹的道路致死事件发生量似乎会随交通密度的变化而波动。自2009年末圣诞岛移民拘留中心启用以来，随着岛上人口与机动车流量的增长，已有数千只椰子蟹在岛内道路上被车辆碾轧致死，该情况在夜间尤为突出。2010年1月，园区工作人员开始使用粉色标记漆标注道路致死现场的位置，以明确点位并确保其可见性。该监测项目会在现场收集基础数据，包括个体性别、体型大小、发现日期及坐标信息。为管控道路致死对该物种种群的影响，本监测项目旨在评估以下内容：岛内道路致死事件的空间分布差异、道路致死事件的时间变化规律、交通流量与致死事件发生量之间的关联，以及椰子蟹体型与性别的相关关系。