A global review of animal translocation programs

Resende, Paloma S.; Viana–Junior, AB; Young, Robert J.; Azevedo, CS de

doi:10.32800/abc.2020.43.0221

Cited by 40 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Conservation actions implemented to reverse unfavourable conservation status need to be evaluated over time to know their effectiveness (Pe ´rez et al 2012, Gerber et al 2018, Berger-Tal et al 2020, Resende et al 2020, Nason et al 2021, which in turn requires good information on the original baselines. These baselines should consider aspects of distribution and population size, habitat preferences, densities, and demographic parameters related to reproductive success, life expectancy and mortality rates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population size, abundance, habitat relationships and the result of a translocation programme in the Gran Canaria Blue ChaffinchFringilla polatzeki

Carrascal

Delgado²,

Suárez³

et al. 2022

Bird Conservation International

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Summary The Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch Fringilla polatzeki is a threatened, endemic, forest‐dwelling bird species of the Canary Islands, whose core population at the end of the 20th century was restricted to the pine forests of Inagua Nature Reserve (38 km2). A translocation programme released birds from a breeding centre into the nearby (<3 km) pine forests of La Cumbre in the years following 2010. From 2015 to 2019 the La Cumbre population was reinforced by translocation of wild juveniles from the source population of Inagua. We estimate the population size, the spatial variation of abundance, and recent temporal changes in density of the species in Inagua and La Cumbre by means of line transects, distance sampling, and habitat suitability modelling using random forests. The average density of the Blue Chaffinch in Inagua Nature Reserve was 10.2 birds/km2 in spring 2019, with a population estimated at 362 birds (95% CI: 257–489). The most important variables affecting the distribution of the Blue Chaffinch in Inagua were the amount of precipitation during the summer (July–September), the solar radiation in June, and the northern position in the reserve, highlighting the importance of abiotic factors related to thermal and hydric stress during the breeding season. The density was considerably lower in the translocated population inhabiting 21 km2 of pine forests in La Cumbre (3.3 birds/km2), with an estimate of 68 Blue Chaffinches (35–141) breeding freely in the wild. The translocation programme successfully contributed to the establishment of a second viable nucleus, accounting for 16% of the total population within a time span of 10 years. This result reinforces the role of translocations in preventing extinctions of endangered species with very low population sizes restricted to only one isolated area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population size, abundance, habitat relationships and the result of a translocation programme in the Gran Canaria Blue ChaffinchFringilla polatzeki

Carrascal

Delgado²,

Suárez³

et al. 2022

Bird Conservation International

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“…Translocation -the intentional movement of animals for conservation purposes-has been used as a technique to mitigate the loss and depletion of endangered species (8)(9)(10). However, numerous examples worldwide have shown failures for translocation programs across a wide variety of species (9,11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using a substitute species to inform translocation of an endangered territorial mammal

Morandini

Koprowski

2022

Preprint

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Substitute species can inform management strategies without exposing endangered species unnecessarily. Further, experimental approaches may help to identify the causes of translocation failures, leading to improve the chances of success. We used a surrogate subspecies, Tamiasciurus fremonti fremonti to test different translocation techniques to inform potential management actions on the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus fremonti grahamensis). We fitted VHF radio collars to 54 animals, and we monitored their survival and movements until individuals settled on a new territory. We considered the effect of season, translocation technique (soft or hard release), and body mass on survival, distance moved after release, and time to settlement of translocated animals. Survival probability averaged 0.48 after 60 days from the translocation event and was not affected by season or translocation technique. 54% of the mortality was caused by predation. Distance moved and number of days to settlement varied with season, where winter was characterized by shorter distances (average of 364 m in winter versus 1752 m in fall) and a smaller number of days (6 in winter versus 23 in fall). These data emphasize the potential of substitute species to provide valuable information on possible outcomes of management strategies for closely related endangered species.

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“…Terrestrial mammals and birds are more frequently released than fish, amphibians or reptiles (Bajomi et al, 2010;Seddon et al, 2005;Soorae & Pritpal, 2018). The number of terrestrial animal conservation translocation is greater than the number of aquatic animal conservation translocation (Olden et al, 2011), and the use of softrelease protocols is more frequent than the use of hard-release protocols (Resende et al, 2020). Most of the conservation translocation individuals come from captive populations, where the application of soft-release techniques is favoured (Jule et al, 2008;Tenhumberg et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is better for animal conservation translocation programmes: Soft‐ or hard‐release? A phylogenetic meta‐analytical approach

Resende

Viana‐Júnior

Young

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Animal conservation translocation is an important tool available to conservation biologists to address problems of isolated, declining or endangered populations.This approach includes both captive-bred and free-ranging origin animals, which are used to rescue genetically limited populations and re-establish extirpated populations. Both soft and hard-release protocols (the release of animals with or without acclimatization, respectively) are used in animal conservation translocation programmes; however, there is no consensus on whether one has better conservation outcomes than the other.2. Here, we analysed data from 17 studies to measure the efficiency of both techniques for fauna conservation. Using phylogenetic meta-analysis, we compared results from articles that used soft and hard-release protocols to determine the overall effect size. In addition, we examined if the success metrics, type of environment, taxonomic group and animal's origin affected the outcomes of each type of translocation programmes.3. We calculated 61 effect sizes for 17 species. We found that the soft-release protocol is approximate 40% better than the hard-release protocol (Estimates = 0.44, CI 95: 0.11-0.76). Soft-release programme increased success by 77% (Estimates = 0.78, CI 95: 0.37-1.19) when movement metrics were used (as compared to hardrelease) and were 41% more successful with terrestrial species. 4. In general, soft-releases showed better outcomes by reducing movements away from the release site, but this was driven mostly by terrestrial reptile translocations (77% chance of success); when birds and mammals or the other success metrics were evaluated, both release techniques had similar effects. Lastly, the origin (i.e. captive or wild) of the released animals did not influence the success rate of softversus hard-releases. Synthesis and applications.We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate which is the best release protocol for success in animal conservation: soft-or hard-release. Our results showed that soft-releases are in general better than hard-releases, especially for reptiles. Protocol outcomes were similar for birds and mammals and were not linked to the origin of the released animals. We recommend that the decision of which protocol to use needs also to consider the financial costs of the used protocol.

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A global review of animal translocation programs

Cited by 40 publications

References 59 publications

Population size, abundance, habitat relationships and the result of a translocation programme in the Gran Canaria Blue ChaffinchFringilla polatzeki

Population size, abundance, habitat relationships and the result of a translocation programme in the Gran Canaria Blue ChaffinchFringilla polatzeki

Using a substitute species to inform translocation of an endangered territorial mammal

What is better for animal conservation translocation programmes: Soft‐ or hard‐release? A phylogenetic meta‐analytical approach

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