Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States
| Autor: | Hannah Myers, Brett A. DeGregorio, Raymond W. Moody |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Phrynosoma Home range Wildlife Zoology translocation Chromosomal translocation Phrynosoma cornutum 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Article lcsh:Zoology Juvenile lcsh:QL1-991 hard release lcsh:Veterinary medicine General Veterinary Observed Survival biology High mortality conservation biology.organism_classification Military installation soft release 010601 ecology juveniles lcsh:SF600-1100 Animal Science and Zoology |
| Zdroj: | Animals, Vol 10, Iss 1358, p 1358 (2020) Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI Animals Volume 10 Issue 8 |
| ISSN: | 2076-2615 |
| Popis: | Wildlife translocation is an often-used technique to augment populations or remove animals from harm&rsquo 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. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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