5.8 Human Intrusions and Disturbance
lack of artifcial structures and visible lighting (Witherington 1992; Bouchard et al. 1998) . Excessive nighttime lighting from buildings or vehicles can render nesting beaches unsuitable or unused because lighting disorients the sea turtles, thereby reducing the number of female sea turtles nesting on NC beaches (Witherington 1992) . Sea turtle hatchlings generally emerge from their nests at night, and rely on visual cues for successfully fnding and entering ocean waters (seafnding behavior) (Ehrenfeld 1968; Mrosovsky and Shettleworth 1969) . When exposed to sources of artifcial light, seafnding behavior of hatchlings will become disrupted, and often hatchlings will travel away from the sea (Peters and Verhoeven 1994; Philibosian 1976; Salmon et al. 1995a, 1995b) , which increases the time they are exposed to land-based predators, reduces the amount of residual internalized yolk available to hatchlings for their initial swim ofshore, and could result in desiccation/death if the hatchlings remain on land after sunrise. Driving motorized vehicles on the beach has the potential to negatively impact sea turtles by running over nesting females, hatchlings, and stranded turtles that have washed ashore. Driving directly above incubating eggs in a sea turtle nest can cause sand compaction, which result in decreased hatching success and can kill pre-emergent hatchlings. In addi- tion, the ruts left by motorized vehicles in the sand may prevent or impede hatchlings from reaching the ocean following their emergence from the nest (Hosier et al. 1981; Lamont et al. 2002; van de Merwe et al. 2012) . Reducing artifcial lighting and nighttime beach driving can increase the number of female sea turtles nesting on our beaches. Marking sea turtle nests and creating protective buf- fers around nests can prevent nest disturbance. Limiting vehicular trafc during sea turtle emergence can prevent direct mortality and prevent tire ruts that can impede hatchlings as they travel to the ocean. 5.8.2 SGCN Priority Species Te Taxa Team evaluation considered the level of threat human intrusions and disturbance represents to SGCN priority species. Table 5.7 provides a list of species for which this threat category is consider very high or high.
SGCN at very high or high threat from human intrusions and disturbance
T ABLE 5.7
Threat Level Very High High
Scientifc Name
Common Name
AMPHIBIAN Hemidactylium scutatum
Four-toed Salamander Eastern Mud Salamander
X X X
Pseudotriton montanus montanus
Pseudotriton ruber
Red Salamander
705
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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