Soft-Release, but Not Cool Winter Temperatures, Reduces Post-Translocation Dispersal of Jewelled Geckos

Knox, Carey; Jarvie, Scott; Easton, Luke J.; Monks, Joanne M.

doi:10.1670/16-078

Cited by 15 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Restoring the natural ecological community on Mana Island, including barking geckos and other lizard species, is a key conservation goal for the island (Miskelly 1999). Following the previous failed hard-release translocation of barking geckos to Mana Island (Knox & Monks 2014) and research demonstrating the potential of penned release for green gecko translocations (Knox & Monks 2014;Knox et al 2017) the decision was made to attempt a penned release for barking geckos on Mana Island in 2018. A release pen was constructed by members of the Friends of Mana Island Trust based on best practice techniques for the translocation of green geckos, see Monks et al (2017) for details.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The penned release strategy (restricting dispersal for a pre-determined period of time to enable animals to habituate to the release area and form stable territories within the release site; Bright & Morris 1994) shows promise as a tool for increasing the success rate of herpetofaunal translocations (Germano & Bishop 2008), but has received little scientific attention. Studies on gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus; Tuberville et al 2005) and jewelled geckos (Naultinus gemmeus; Knox & Monks 2014;Knox et al 2017) demonstrate that penned releases reduce initial dispersal and increase site fidelity, which may ultimately increase the probability of population establishment and growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…comm.). More recent green gecko translocations have not yet had sufficient monitoring duration to evaluate success, though initial monitoring of the penned release translocations described by Knox et al (2017) has documented both survival and reproduction, i.e. success at stages 1 and 2 of Miller et al (2014) (C. Knox, Wildlands Consultants, pers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In November 2018, a further 19 barking geckos were translocated to Mana Island. This release involved temporarily holding geckos in a pen containing suitable habitat for a period of three months before removing the pen, following the success of this technique for congeneric jewelled geckos (Knox & Monks 2014;Knox et al 2017). The release of barking geckos on Mana Island presented an opportunity to monitor use of space and habitat by N. punctatus for the first time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Penned release reduces area use by translocated barking geckos (Naultinus punctatus)

Flynn-Plummer¹,

Monks²

2021

NZJE

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Globally, translocations of herpetofauna have been notoriously unsuccessful. Most previous translocations of green geckos (Naultinus spp.) have failed to result in population establishment. However, recent penned releases of jewelled geckos (moko kākāriki; Naultinus gemmeus) have led to increased site fidelity, reduced dispersal, reduced home range sizes, and reduced minimum daily movements, facilitating population establishment. The success of these penned releases prompted use of the method in a translocation of 19 barking geckos (Naultinus punctatus) to Mana Island, New Zealand, the first application of the technique to this species. We evaluated the effect of penning on area use by geckos over a three-month penned period followed by a two-week un-penned period. We aimed to determine whether barking gecko area use decreased over time, which can be an early indication of territory establishment. Mean barking gecko area use decreased significantly throughout the study, supporting previous work on jewelled geckos that suggests penning is an effective tool for translocations of green geckos and may also be beneficial to other lizard taxa.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Penned release reduces area use by translocated barking geckos (Naultinus punctatus)

Flynn-Plummer¹,

Monks²

2021

NZJE

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“…Only a small handful of translocation efforts have applied soft release to lizard species. Knox and Monks [ 15 ] and Knox et al [ 18 ] showed that soft releasing Jewelled Geckos ( Naultinus gemmeus ) resulted in less dispersal behavior and smaller home ranges than hard released individuals. Fitzgerald et al [ 19 ] attributed the successful reintroduction of St. Croix Ground Lizards ( Ameiva polops ) to Buck Island at least partially to soft release.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States

DeGregorio

Moody

Myers

2020

Animals

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Wildlife translocation is an often-used technique to augment populations or remove animals from harm’s way. Unfortunately, many translocation efforts fail to meet their goals for myriad reasons, particularly because translocated animals make large, erratic movements after release, which can result in high mortality rates. Soft release, holding animals in acclimation pens for some period of time at the recipient site before release, has been proposed as a technique to reduce these large movements and increase the survival of translocated animals. Here, we compared the survival and movement patterns of soft-released Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) with resident lizards, as well as hard-released lizards from a prior study. Juvenile lizards that were soft-released had high survival rates similar to resident lizards, despite still moving more frequently and occupying larger home ranges than residents. Conversely, soft-released adult lizards had survival rates similar to those that were hard-released, and much lower rates than resident adults. Curiously, soft-released adults did not have significantly higher movement rates or home range sizes than residents. Our results suggest that caution should be used before adult Texas horned lizards are translocated. However, juveniles responded well to soft release, and future research should explore whether they are more resilient to translocation in general, or if soft release provided a specific survival advantage. Contrary to our predictions, the survival of translocated animals was not related to their post-release movement patterns, and the mechanism underlying the observed survival patterns is unclear.

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Longer holding times decrease dispersal but increase mortality of translocated scaled quail

Ruzicka,

Rollins,

Doherty

et al. 2023

J Wildl Manag

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Scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) decline caused by habitat loss and fragmentation increased interest in translocation to reestablish populations. Yet factors determining translocation success are poorly understood. We tested hypotheses concerning the influence of source population and variation in delayed release strategy (1–9 weeks) on mortality and dispersal of wild‐caught, translocated scaled quail. We trapped and translocated quail from 2016–2017 from source populations in the Edwards Plateau and Rolling Plains ecoregions to a large contiguous (>40,000 ha) release site in Knox County, Texas, USA. We evaluated mortality and dispersal of translocated females as a function of source population, holding time prior to release, age, release location, and year using a multi‐state mark‐recapture model with state uncertainty. Scaled quail translocated within the Rolling Plains were more likely to exhibit philopatry to the release site. Quail with longer holding times had higher mortality but lower dispersal rates. The Edwards Plateau is a suitable source site for translocation in the Rolling Plains. The reduced dispersal but higher mortality of translocated scaled quail associated with longer holding times creates a decision tradeoff for managers.

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Soft-Release, but Not Cool Winter Temperatures, Reduces Post-Translocation Dispersal of Jewelled Geckos

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 15 publications

References 38 publications

Penned release reduces area use by translocated barking geckos (Naultinus punctatus)

Penned release reduces area use by translocated barking geckos (Naultinus punctatus)

Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States

Longer holding times decrease dispersal but increase mortality of translocated scaled quail

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