Lessons learned from a conservation translocation of a microendemic habitat specialist

Authors: Mickey R. Parker, Toby J. Hibbitts, Wade A. Ryberg, Lee A. Fitzgerald

Translocations are often characterized as “successes” or “failures”. However, this dichotomy masks the challenges of successful translocations and ignores important lessons learned in cases where a population was not established in perpetuity. We translocated 76 individuals of an imperiled endemic lizard, the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus), to a locality where it had gone extinct. Translocated lizards survived and reproduced in small numbers. Based on intensive monitoring, we were able to conclude the incipient population declined to zero individuals after 4 years. It is possible that predation, Allee effects, or stochastic factors prevented the population from sustaining itself at this historically occupied site. Valuable lessons for conservation translocations can be taken from this case. We offer novel perspectives on the IUCN Guidelines for Reintroductions and Other Conservation Translocations regarding release site selection, propagule bias, behavioral monitoring, population monitoring, and issues of land tenure. We recommend pairing knowledge of habitat requirements with quantitative analyses to select suitable release sites, translocating gravid females to jump-start population growth, coupling delayed releases with intensive behavioral monitoring, using Poisson-based models to determine necessary intensity of monitoring, and recognizing how issues of land tenure may present pitfalls for conservation translocations in the long term.

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