A Tale of Two Islands: The Rescue and Recovery of Endemic Birds in New Zealand and Mauritius

Jones, Carl G.; Merton, Don

doi:10.1002/9781444355833.ch2

Cited by 40 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Chauvenet et al, 2010;Collazo et al, 2013;Helmstedt & Possingham, 2016;, few have evaluated how variation in release site characteristics can be exploited to reduce post-release effects and increase establishment success in metapopulation restoration efforts. For many bird translocations, techniques of temporarily or permanently 'marooning' populations on predator-free islands, generally outside the indigenous range of the species, have been used in a metapopulation context for recovery (Robertson et al, 2011;Jones & Merton, 2012;Parker, 2013). For many bird translocations, techniques of temporarily or permanently 'marooning' populations on predator-free islands, generally outside the indigenous range of the species, have been used in a metapopulation context for recovery (Robertson et al, 2011;Jones & Merton, 2012;Parker, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing release strategies: a stepping‐stone approach to reintroduction

Lloyd¹,

Hostetter

Jackson³

et al. 2018

Animal Conservation

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Evaluation of alternative management strategies enables informed decisions to accelerate species recovery. For reintroductions, post-release survival to reproductive age is a key parameter influencing population growth. Here, we trial a 'stepping-stone' method to maximize the success of captive-bred animals when the availability of more suitable wild-born release candidates is limited. Our approach makes use of relatively safe and established wild populations to prepare captive-bred individuals for eventual translocation to a final release destination, thus building resilience through establishment of multiple populations over time. We developed a novel multievent model integrating encounter history and biotelemetry data to evaluate reintroduction strategies for the critically endangered Vancouver Island marmot Marmota vancouverensis. We compared post-release survival of 176 individuals (52 wild-born, 47 captive-bred marmots released directly to destinations, and 77 captive-bred marmots released with a stepping-stone approach). Survival estimates to prime breeding-age (PBA), were then used to quantify expected success of potential release strategies. Our analysis indicates that post-release survival varies by source population and release method, as well as age, season, year, and years since release. Conditional on an objective of maximizing survival to PBA, our results suggest that using wild-born marmots for translocations as often as possible, and stepping-stone captive-bred marmots prior to final release, will result in the best outcomes. There was a 0.86 probability that survival to PBA was greater for captive-bred marmots released as yearlings using a stepping-stone approach (survival to PBA mode = 0.13, 95% CRI = 0.05-0.30) than for captive-bred animals that were directly released to destination sites as one-year-olds (survival to PBA mode = 0.04, 95% CRI = 0.01-0.24). Consequently, the stepping-stone approach yields much higher population establishment or growth potential than previous release strategies that used captive-bred marmots. Optimizing the combination of release candidates, sites and timing can thereby increase the effectiveness of reintroductions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing release strategies: a stepping‐stone approach to reintroduction

Lloyd¹,

Hostetter

Jackson³

et al. 2018

Animal Conservation

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“…Jones & Merton (2012) report times ranging from 14 to 30 years (median = 20 years) for the recovery of bird species in re-introduction programs. There is no systematic review of how quickly different types of conservation projects can result in positive outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warning times for species extinctions due to climate change

Stanton

Shoemaker

Pearson

et al. 2014

Global Change Biology

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Climate change is likely to become an increasingly major obstacle to slowing the rate of species extinctions. Several new assessment approaches have been proposed for identifying climate-vulnerable species, based on the assumption that established systems such as the IUCN Red List need revising or replacing because they were not developed to explicitly consider climate change. However, no assessment approach has been tested to determine its ability to provide advanced warning time for conservation action for species that might go extinct due to climate change. To test the performance of the Red List system in this capacity, we used linked niche-demographic models with habitat dynamics driven by a 'business-as-usual' climate change scenario. We generated replicate 100-year trajectories for range-restricted reptiles and amphibians endemic to the United States. For each replicate, we categorized the simulated species according to IUCN Red List criteria at annual, 5-year, and 10-year intervals (the latter representing current practice). For replicates that went extinct, we calculated warning time as the number of years the simulated species was continuously listed in a threatened category prior to extinction. To simulate data limitations, we repeated the analysis using a single criterion at a time (disregarding other listing criteria). Results show that when all criteria can be used, the Red List system would provide several decades of warning time (median = 62 years; >20 years for 99% of replicates), but suggest that conservation actions should begin as soon as a species is listed as Vulnerable, because 50% of replicates went extinct within 20 years of becoming uplisted to Critically Endangered. When only one criterion was used, warning times were substantially shorter, but more frequent assessments increased the warning time by about a decade. Overall, we found that the Red List criteria reliably provide a sensitive and precautionary way to assess extinction risk under climate change.

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“…Common concerns revolve around the extraction of individuals from extant populations, the care and handling of these individuals, and the functional details of their release . These case studies reinforce the idea that planning is critical to success, but also that many conservation decisions are time sensitive …”

Section: Phase Iii: Project Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Translocation of imperiled species under changing climates

Schwartz

Martin

2013

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Conservation translocation of species varies from restoring historic populations to managing the relocation of imperiled species to new locations. We review the literature in three areas--translocation, managed relocation, and conservation decision making--to inform conservation translocation under changing climates. First, climate change increases the potential for conflict over both the efficacy and the acceptability of conservation translocation. The emerging literature on managed relocation highlights this discourse. Second, conservation translocation works in concert with other strategies. The emerging literature in structured decision making provides a framework for prioritizing conservation actions--considering many possible alternatives that are evaluated based on expected benefit, risk, and social-political feasibility. Finally, the translocation literature has historically been primarily concerned with risks associated with the target species. In contrast, the managed relocation literature raises concerns about the ecological risk to the recipient ecosystem. Engaging in a structured decision process that explicitly focuses on stakeholder engagement, problem definition and specification of goals from the outset will allow creative solutions to be developed and evaluated based on their expected effectiveness.

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A Tale of Two Islands: The Rescue and Recovery of Endemic Birds in New Zealand and Mauritius

Cited by 40 publications

References 36 publications

Optimizing release strategies: a stepping‐stone approach to reintroduction

Optimizing release strategies: a stepping‐stone approach to reintroduction

Warning times for species extinctions due to climate change

Translocation of imperiled species under changing climates

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