Conserving Species at Risk Flashcards
What are the four methods for managing threatened species?
- removing other stressors
- in-situ management
- Assisted migration
- Species rescue
- 1= least intervention; least costly
- 4 = most intervention; most costly
- most cons efforts involve more than one of the above
Methods for managing threatened species:
- Explain “Removing Stressors”
- move/reduce existing stressors to allow populations to recover without further intervention
- stressors could be fires, deforestation/habitat loss, invasive species, etc.
- special focus is given to areas the tare resistant (resist damage from stressors) or resilient (recovers quickly from damage)
- can involve setting up protected areas to reduce stressors
- can also involve translocations (more or eliminate invasive sp, competitors, predators)
Methods for managing threatened species:
- Explain in-situ management
- used when removing stressors isn’t working
- can involve management within protected zones or management of populations outside of protected zones
- can use natural selection to improve fitness of population via artificially manipulating pop to maintain secure core, allow other pops to vary in response to selection (to see if they can/will adapt to new conditions). Once evolving pop is large enough, discontinue manipulation aka stop protecting the secure core
Methods for managing threatened species:
- Explain assisted migration.
- includes other translocations
- done when all other in-situ options are exhausted
- ex) extreme range shifts, poor dispersers
- translocation of populations into new areas of suitable habitat or to return extirpated populations to places where they firmly existed
- introducing species to anew area, involves risk (invasivesss)
Methods for managing threatened species:
- Explain species rescue.
- done as a very last resort
- Ex) ex-situ conservation (captive breeding, zoos)
- goal whenever possible -> return sp to wild (can work with in-situ management to that end
- most expensive option -> better option is to conserve in-situ where possible
Which of the following examples would be considered in-situ
management?
A. Removing an invasive species from a grassland where it is threatening
the endangered species present.
B. Moving a population of slow-dispersing butterflies to new suitable
habitat.
C. Removing an endangered rodent from the wild and breeding it in captivity.
D. Managing one population of an endangered species in its native
habitat as an assurance colony while leaving other populations without
human interference
E. More than one of the above
D. Managing one population of an endangered species in its native
habitat as an assurance colony while leaving other populations without
human interference
Define the following term:
- Translocation
- purposeful movement of animals from one location to another
Define the following term:
- Introduction
- release animals into a habitat that they never occurred in naturally (regardless of intent)
Define the following term:
- Reintroduction
- release animals into an area where they have declined /disappeared due to human activity
Define the following term:
- Rehabilitation
- process by which naive animals are trained to live in their natural habitat
Define the following term:
- In situ conservation
6. Ex situ conservation
- Preservation in wild
6. Offsite conservation, best used to complement in situ conservation
What are the three types of translocations?
**Remember translocation = movement of living organisms from on area with free release in another area
- introduction
L> assisted colonization - reintroduction
L> restoring a species to an area where it has been extirpated - Reinforcement
L> restocking / supplementation
Translocation Types:
Reintroduction can involve what?
- translocation of non-captive individuals
- release of captive born individuals
- release of wild born but captive raised animals or plants
Why should we translocate organisms?
- to establish new pops or enhance existing populations to increase the survival of a sp
- restore a damaged ecosystem
- to remove stressors (creased comp with rarer animal, remove unfit individuals, stabilize pop oscillations)
- to establish a species for specific purposes (education,s scientific research etc)
L> ex: Indian Rhesus Macaques colony established in new, similar habitat for biomedical research - to protect animal/people from each other
What can reintroductions involve?
- translocations of non captive individuals
- release of captive born individuals
- release of wild born but captive raised animals/plants
Which of the following is an example of an introduction?
A. A herd of deer are released into a park to bolster the already
established population.
B. A group of monkeys is released on an island outside of their
native range to create a local source for biomedical research.
C. Wolves are removed from a ranch, and released into a nearby
park (where they likely originated from) to prevent them from
eating cattle.
D. Captive-raised black-footed ferrets undergo a bootcamp before
they are released into a park where there is a wild population
already established.
E. A species of cichlid has disappeared in the wild, but captive
B.
What are some concerns revolving reintroducing a captive reared population?
- does the captive pop contain rare species who can be sued to restock small populations/ reintroduce species to area where extirpated?
- are the captive pops large enough to act as a self sustaining source pop for reintroductions?
- successful reintroductions require release of many individuals over months/years
What are the two main methods for establishment of new plant populations? What three factors increase success?
- seeds can eb collected and dispersed to new sites (microsite is crucial for survival) seed banks can store these indefinitely
How do zoos/botanical gardens contribute to reintroductions?
- organisms from captive breeding programs
- people for overseas project administration
- funds for reintroductions
- specialized technical expertise (ex vet services)
- state and federal agencies also apply a big role in USA reintroductions
- zoos could focus on smaller sp that are easier to maintain in large numbers
- Millennium Seed Bank Project - Royal Botanical Gardens, goal is to conserve 25% of ~ 250, 000 plants in seed bank by 2020
What are the theoretical considerations for successful translocations?
- Strategic approach
- Ecological setting
- Genetics
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
What are the two types of strategic approaches to translocations ?
- hard release
L> animals released from captivity with no training / no time to acclimate to environment - soft release
L> animals given care at release point (spend time in cages at release point to acclimate to area, fed and sheltered at release point) - social groups that are given a hard release often disperse from area and fail to establish
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
Describe considerations around the ecological settings?
- determine reasons for species decline
- assess population’s life history in a natural setting (age-specific brith and death rates etc)
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
What do life history traits describe ?
- reproductive strategies of organisms and the timing of life cycle events
- life history traits reflect age specific patterns in energy allocation - determine age specific schedules of survival and reproduction. Life history -> population demography (density dependent and independent factors -> establishment of new pop
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
Ecological settings: describe when population persistence is most likely !
- large number of founders
- reduced env variation
- animal is herbivorous
- Founders have a high degree of genetic variability
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
What ecological setting considerations might hurt the success of a translocation?
- ecological factors that influence age specific birth and death rates, and migration can impact success.
- smaller animals that are specials have complex life cycles can be harder to successfully translate than larger generalists
- may no longer have wild populations to study (make inferences from close relatives or from captive animals)
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
- Explain the importance of genetics.
- risks of inbreeding and outbreeding depression
- past bottlenecks impact present Ne
- conservation management -> maintain /restore evolutionary and ecological processes (often goal is to maintain natural levels of gene flow).
- Translocations =artificial gene flow (impacts?)
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
- Explain ESUs
- evolutionary significant units
- these are district populations, having variation in neutral markers
- IUCN has guidelines in place that require pops be genetically similar to move animals between them, so there has been a lot of focus on ESUs
L> would gene flow between an emu and other pop always be bad?
You are studying a species and determine that most of the populations show
high levels of gene flow, but one population has been isolated long enough that
it has become an ESU. This population exists in a habitat that is a little different
than any other population.
What do you think about establishing a breeding program using individuals
from this ESU and others from the species in the same program?
A. It is a good idea because it will increase the genetic variation within the ESU,
which is probably small and being driving by drift more than selection
B. It is a bad idea because you will lose any unique genetic variation within the
ESU
C. It is complicated because the ESU was established by unique neutral genetic
variation (a common approach), so we don’t know that any of it’s unique
alleles are adaptive
D. It is a bad idea because we could introduce outbreeding depression into our
captive population
C. It is complicated because the ESU was established by unique neutral genetic
variation (a common approach), so we don’t know that any of it’s unique
alleles are adaptive
Theoretical considerations for successful translocation:
- Genetics: Explain post release genetic monitoring. Are there alts?
- quantifies change sin genetic composition of pop over time, use information to make adjustments
- determine fates of all translocated animals and their offspring (evidence for success long term)
- Recent advancements have led to cheaper, non invasive ways to monitor populations post release. Such as molecular techniques that can detect past bottlenecks, quantify Ne, evidence fo gene flow between pops. BUT the problem is that long term monitoring esp wrt genetics, rarely included in plans for reintroduction
What are the practical considerations for successful translocations?
- Gaining local permission
- Capturing wild animals
- Transportation
- Site selection
- Release
- Monitoring
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
1. Explain gaining local permission.
- local authorities need to approve both captures/releases and follow ups
- should be first step in planning
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
2. Capturing wild animals?
- can be stressful and dangerous
- can involve development/application of new techniques (eg new drug animal combinations)
- requires planning/ research/ veterinary involvement
- requires experienced personnel to reduce risks to animal
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
3. Transportation?
- stressful, expensive, requires vet supervision
- can be prolonged
- animal’s needs must be met during travel (food/water/space/correct temp/ protection from injury and escape
- animal may also require companionship or maternal care
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
4. Site selection?
- assessment fo release site -> does it meet the needs of animals over long term?
- determine why species isn’t already there , stressors preventing success??
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
5. Release?
- immediate release can create panic/ disorientation
- risk of increased stress/ potential injury
Practical considerations for successful translocations:
6. Monitoring ?
- several months -> years after release
- interactions among animals, between animals and environment, between animals and other species
- results should be published
What are predictors of successful translocations?
- taxonomic class
- legal status
- habitat quality of release area
- location of release area wrt historical range
- number of animals released
- program length
- potential productivity of released sp
What is the main goal of translocation (Griffith et al, 1999)?
- establish long term persistence without need for intervention . management
Follow up studies to Griffith et al, 1999, found that which variables to be the most sig predictors of successful translocation?
- habitat quality of release area
- range of release site relative to historic range
- number of individuals released
What are the 7 main issues with translocations?
- allocation of resources
- dispersal of released animals
- environmental carrying capacity (k)
- Conflicts with humans
- Ecological disruptions
- Monitoring
- Captive reared organisms may be less fit in wild setting
Problems with translocations:
1. Allocation of resources
- habitat restoration vs captive breeding
- suitable habitat needs to exist, and stressors that caused original decline need to be reduced/ eliminated
- cultural/economic factors also play a role
Problems with translocations:
2. Dispersal of released animals
- animals can move beyond the reintroduced zone
- sometimes animals return to previous habitat
ex: white tailed deer traveled 560km
Problems with translocations:
3. Environmental carrying capacity (K)?
- why was species extirpated?
- how many individuals can habitat support? esp in bad years?
- K is diff to determine, esp for animaal that feed at higher trophic levels
Problems with translocations:
4. Conflict with humans?
- human activities can impede reintroductions
ex: Yellowstone park
L> ranchers killing wolves bc of fear over their livestock - captive bred animals may not be afraid of humans (or even predators)
L> ex African hunting dogs being killed by large carnivores like lions , due to their lack of fear
Problems with translocations:
5. Ecological disruptions?
- newly reintroduced species can be a major ecological disturbance for other specie sin area
- increased competition / predation on other species (released species -> invasive)
Problems with translocations:
6. Monitoring?
- months/years required, but this usually doesn’t happen bc of practical/money issues
- without monitoring, can’t determine longterm success easily/ at all
Problems with translocations:
7. Captive reared animals may be less fit?
- animals reared in captivity can exhibit non heritable traits that differ from wild individuals:
1. body size/growth diet: diet, enclosure size, less complex environment
2. morphology : same factors as above
3. Behaviour (especially learned behaviours) - organisms reared in captivity can adapt to captivity (genetic changes)
- small captive pops subject to genetic drift, larger pops to artificial selection (Might adapt to captivity)
- relaxed selection: animals in captivity are not exposed to natural stressors (predation, mate searching , env variation etc), so less fit individuals have higher fitness than would in wild
Explain the captive reared issue wrt California condors
- they are unable to learn normal social bonds bc they imprinted on human handlers
- soloution: feed hatchlings with puppets and keep them from seeing humans
- once released, congregated around buildings (imprinting on rearing environment)
- solution: condors now being raise din enclosed outdoor areas far from buildings
-wild caught individuals can be used to train captive reared ones
L> done with golden lion tamarins
Explain the captive reared issue wrt black footed ferrets
- one of the most endangered mammals in the world
L> declined bc of habitat loss (grass to farm) , prairie dogs killed by ranchers (food), prairie dogs are prone to plague so farmers deliberately released them to pass on to ferrets. - captive breeding/ reintroduction program in effect (Toronto zoo is involved )
- after 10 year sin captivity morphological changes were noted… 5-10% smaller body size, smaller skulls, and different skull morphology.
- released animals, offspring quickly returned to pre capture morphology (changes weren’t heritable)
Explain the captive reared issue wrt marsupial feather tail gliders.
- captive bred pops have longer trials and snouts and differed in torpor ability (genetic basis for change)
Explain the captive reared issue wrt blanding’s turtle
- threatened
- eggs are collected from stable wild pops and hatched at Toronto zoo. hatchlings are reared in captivity
- turtles are released as juveniles (can live to 80y)
- juveniles released into wetlands of Rouge
What are the four captive breeding methods?
- Cross fostering
- Artificial incubation
- Artificial insemination
- Studbooks
Captive breeding:
1. Explain cross fostering
- foster parents from a closely related common species used to rear young of endangered sp (increases number of young successfully raised
Captive breeding:
2. Explain Artificial incubation
- if parent(s) fail to care for young, human keeps can cater for them instead (also sued if disease, predation, parasitism is a concern) ex: head starting programs
Captive breeding:
3. Explain artificial insemination
- used to increase gene pool (eg sperm banks can store sperm long term ), for animals that refuse to mate, etc.
Captive breeding:
4. Studbooks?
- track genetic lineages of captive animals, prevents inbreeding and can be sued to increase genetic diversity
Butterfly splitfins, an endangered species of fish, that are captiveraised
and then released into the wild exhibit different time budgets then their wild counterparts: they spend far less time
foraging and far more time in aggressive interactions with other
splitfins.
They consume less food as a result, and are more likely to interact aggressively with female fish than to initiate courtship behaviour.
If they do successfully reproduce, their offspring revert to wild type
behaviour.
Based on what you’ve learned in this lecture, discuss what this
means, both in terms of whether or not the splitfins are exhibiting
adaptation to captivity, and also hypothesis about the potential
impacts of this on the potential success of this reinforcement
program.
think of something hereee
