Understanding the demography of a reinforced population: Long-term survival of captive-bred and wild-born houbara bustards in Morocco

Harris, Stephanie M.; Robinson, Orin J.; Hingrat, Yves; Nuz, Eric Le; Ruiz‐Gutiérrez, Viviana

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110185

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…data). Previous studies did not find significant sex differences in mortality of wild-born houbara, but found male survival to be lower than female survival among captive-bred released birds 85 . Higher mortality rates in males have also been reported for the great bustard, a species that also shows a female-biased sex ratio 37 , 38 , 96 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…In the Canary Islands, we have observed the negative influence of the absence of rainfall on the juvenile productivity of houbara bustards (own unpublished data). Also in Morocco, temperature increases and more severe droughts have been documented since 2010 83 , 84 , which would explain the reduced survival of houbara bustards in that country in recent years 85 . In semi-desert habitats, changes in temperature and rainfall may have a major impact on primary production and thus on food resource availability and breeding performance of birds 86 – 90 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic mortality threatens the survival of Canarian houbara bustards

Alonso,

Abril-Colón,

Ucero

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Anthropogenic mortality is a major cause of global mortality in terrestrial vertebrates. Quantifying its impact on the dynamics of threatened species is essential to improve their conservation. We investigated cause-specific mortality in Canarian houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae), an endangered subspecies endemic to the Canary Islands. We monitored 51 individuals tagged with solar-powered GSM/GPRS loggers for an average of 3.15 years, and recorded 7 casualties at aerial lines (13.73% of the sample; 5 at power lines, 2 at telephone lines), 1 (1.96%) at a wire fence, 4 road kills (7.84%) and 1 case of predation by cat (1.96%). Cox proportional hazards models showed that anthropogenic and natural annual mortality rates were similar (respectively, 6.20% and 6.36% of the individuals). We estimate that 33–35 houbaras die each year in the Canary Islands due to anthropogenic causes. Population viability models using these data and juvenile productivity values obtained over seven years predicted the extinction of the species in 50 years. Eliminating anthropogenic mortality, the population could be recovered, but would still require management actions to improve habitat quality. Conservation measures to reduce anthropogenic mortality due to power line fatalities, roadkills and predation by cats, as well as to increase productivity, are urgently needed, particularly on Fuerteventura, where houbaras are on the brink of extinction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic mortality threatens the survival of Canarian houbara bustards

Alonso,

Abril-Colón,

Ucero

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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A tri‐axial acceleration‐based behaviour template for translocated birds: the case of the Asian houbara bustard

Chopra,

Wilson,

Shepard

et al. 2024

Wildlife Biology

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Understanding the behaviours and time budgets of translocated animals post‐release has the potential to improve rearing and release protocols, and therefore survival rate. Otididae (bustards) inhabit open landscapes across the Middle East and Asia, are highly mobile on the ground and have similar lifestyles and body plans. The Asian houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii is a bustard of conservation concern inhabiting the Middle East to Central Asia and is frequently reared in captivity for population management. We deployed tri‐axial accelerometers on 20 captive Asian houbaras in two seasons to catalogue basic behaviours, provide a template applicable to other bustard species and examine seasonal differences in behaviour. We created Boolean algorithms to define the following behaviours using raw acceleration data and derived metrics: stationary, eating/drinking and locomotion. We used video recordings to cross‐validate the algorithms, yielding recalls from 95 to 97%, and precisions between 97 and 98%. Houbaras spent significantly more time ‘stationary' and less time on ‘locomotion' in summer (June) compared to spring (March). Simple Boolean algorithms proved useful in identifying several behaviours and have the potential to be applicable to other bustard species, in captivity and in the wild post‐release.Keywords: accelerometer, animal behaviour, Asian houbara bustard, captive breeding, conservation translocation

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Reinforcements in the face of ongoing threats: a case study from a critically small carnivore population

McLennan,

Cheng,

Farquharson

et al. 2024

Animal Conservation

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Reinforcements are a well‐established tool for alleviating small population pressures of inbreeding and genetic diversity loss. Some small populations also suffer from specific threats that pose a discrete selective pressure, like diseases. Uncertainty about reinforcing diseased populations exists, as doing so may increase disease prevalence and disrupt potential adaptive processes. However, without assisted gene flow, isolated populations are at high risk of extinction. Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) are a useful case study to test whether reinforcements can alleviate small‐population pressures where there is an ongoing disease pressure. We investigated demographic, genome‐wide and functional genetic diversity, and disease consequences of reinforcing a small population (<20 animals) that was severely impacted by devil facial tumour disease. Released animals from one source population successfully bred with incumbent individuals, tripling the population size, improving genome‐wide and functional diversity and introducing 26 new putatively functional alleles, with no common alleles lost and no increase in disease prevalence. Results suggest, in the case of Tasmanian devils, reinforcements can alleviate small‐population pressures without increasing disease prevalence. Because no common functional alleles were lost, it is likely that any adaptive processes in response to the disease may still occur in the reinforced population, perhaps even with greater efficiency due to reduced genetic drift (due to larger population size). Our study is presented as a comprehensive worked example of the IUCN's guidelines for monitoring reinforcements, to showcase the value of genetic monitoring in a richly monitored system and provide realistic approaches to test similar questions in other taxa.

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Understanding the demography of a reinforced population: Long-term survival of captive-bred and wild-born houbara bustards in Morocco

Cited by 3 publications

References 79 publications

Anthropogenic mortality threatens the survival of Canarian houbara bustards

Anthropogenic mortality threatens the survival of Canarian houbara bustards

A tri‐axial acceleration‐based behaviour template for translocated birds: the case of the Asian houbara bustard

Reinforcements in the face of ongoing threats: a case study from a critically small carnivore population

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