A Day in the Life of a Road Ecologist
What’s the appeal of sitting in a hot car, without air conditioning, looking for roadkill? This was the question I asked myself before embarking on my first road ecology trip with my co-workers. Even though I’ve been with Wildlands Network for over two years, it wasn’t until just a couple months ago that I was able to go out into the field due to pandemic restrictions. As we began the journey, I observed the desert plains cut by the roads we cross: they function as a constant reminder of how we have bled the earth and the living things that inhabit it. Near the sides of the roads I see buffel grass, an invasive African grass that, because of its propensity to catch fire, constantly threatens the local vegetation.
On this particular trip we drove through a region known as the Sky Islands, which are located in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. This area is a mountainous complex where mountains crowned with lush pine and oak forests are separated by an "ocean" of grasslands and desert. Six biotic communities converge in this region: the deserts of Chihuahua and Sonora along with the great plains, the complex mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Rocky Mountain chains, and finally the Nearctic and Neotropical ecozones.
As we traveled down the highway admiring this landscape, it wasn’t long before my colleague Mirna said in a calm voice "There's one." Cecilia slowed the car down, she pulled over and brought us closer to the first victim of the day. We saw a deceased coyote (Canis latrans) on the road. Its battered, broken and dry body in the heat released a slight smell of decomposition, a sad image from any perspective, but there was no time for regrets. We documented the case of road mortality, taking pictures of the species near a ruler for perspective, marked the lifeless remains with paint and returned to our journey. Along the way we saw how the road had similarily claimed the lives of skunks, foxes, birds and reptiles.
Left: Mirna walks towards the case of road mortality. Center: José Miguel surrounded by the Sky Islands’ landscape. Right: A view of the landscape from the car.
Sitting in the backseat of the vehicle, I returned to my initial question—What could be the charm of seeing roadkill knowing there’s no hope of bringing that animal back? I now knew my answer: to heal the spaces we find them in while learning ways we can contribute to our fragmented and wounded world.
That is why Wildlands Network is reconnecting nature across North America through projects like these road ecology studies in the Sky Islands area of Sonora.
The loss of connectivity in the Sky Islands puts not only the beauty of the landscape at risk, but also the functionality of the ecosystems that are present. Additionally, important species of interest in America such as the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the black bear (Ursus americanus) and jaguars (Panthera onca) are endangered. It’s for that reason, and many more, I’ll continue to brave the heat to record road mortality, knowing that one day there will be fewer stops along the way.
