Understanding Wildlife Translocations Flashcards
Why do we translocate animals?
- Conservation
- Human-wildlife conflict
- Organised sports hunting
- Trade
What are the different types of conservation translocations ?
- Release of animals within the species native range (population reintroduction & reinforcement)
- Release of animals outside species native range (assisted colonisation, ecological replacement)
What are the aims of reintroduction?
- Re-establish a viable population
what is population reinforcement?
- Release of animals into an existing population of conspecifics
aims of population reinforcements?
- inc population n°
- Inc genetic diversity
- Enhance population viability
what is assisted colonisation?
release of animals into a suitable ne non-native area
aims of assisted colonisation?
enable a species to persist away from threats within the native area
what is ecological replacement?
release of animals to perform a specific ecological function
Aims of ecological replacement?
- Re-establish ecological function
- Use of closely related species to replace an extinct species
What are main risks inherent to translocations?
- stakeholder risk
- Ecological risks
-Dx risks (infectious & non-infectious)
What non-infectious dx risks?
- Toxins
- Trauma
- Neoplasia
In zoo med what do we call all infectious dx such as viruses, bacterial, fungi etc ?
“PARASITES”
what is meant by ‘host-parasite biological package’?
animals and ‘parasites’ translocated together & dynamics may be affected during translocations
Animals collected - how do they affect parasite dynamics?
- inc parasite transmission
- existing parasites overwhelm the stressed host
parasite dynamics for animals transported ?
= novel parasites acquired during transport
animals released - parasite dynamics?
- animals lose their parasites ‘enemy release’
- animals might acquire more or different parasites
- introduce parasites novel to the destination
What might be the greatest risk with parasite dynamics?
Translocated animals introdue parasites novel to the destination -> alien parasites may cause dx in naive populations
What are some outbreaks that have happened from introduced parasites?
- Myxomatosis (Myxoma virus)
- chytridiomycosis (batachochytrium dendrobatidis)
- Squirrel pox (Squirrelpox virus)
- avian malaria (plasmodium relictum)
Consequences of introduced parasites?
- Individual
- Population
- Ecosystem
Individual consequeces?
- individual animal health = morbidity & mortality
- individual animal welfare = suffering
Population consequences?
- Population health= reprodutive output adversely affected
- Population genetics= fewer reproducing animals causes a bottleneck
- Population abundance reduced numbers in a population
- Population viability
Population extinction depends on?
Density-dependent dx transmission vs Frequency-dependent dx transmission
What consequences on ecosystem?
- Loss of apex predators
- Loss of prey species
- Disrupted food webs
What makes a parasite dangerous?
- Direct lifecycle
- Moderate pathogenicity
- Frequency-dependent transmission
- Able to infect a number of host species
What makes a population vulnerable?
- Naive population
- Small genetically restricted population
- Population once protected by an ecological or geographical barrier
Why are there not more dx outbreaks?
- Diseases induced by introduced parasites are difficult to detect
- Lack of dx risk analysis and post-release health surveillance
