Headstarting boosts population of a threatened wader, the black‐tailed godwit

IF 2.8 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Animal Conservation Pub Date : 2024-09-13 DOI:10.1111/acv.12984

L. Donaldson, R. Hughes, J. Smart, N. S. Jarrett, M. D. Burgess, C. Batey, N. Dessi, G. M. Hilton

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Abstract

Measures to boost populations can help ensure population persistence in the short‐term while longer‐term conservation interventions take effect. Headstarting, involving the collection of wild early life‐stage individuals, rearing in captivity, and release into a new or existing population once independent, has recently been identified as a potential translocation technique to assist small breeding populations of waders declining due to low levels of productivity. However, the demographic rates of headstarted individuals have not been quantified, and their impact on target populations not understood, which is required to determine the efficacy of this technique as a tool for species recovery. Between 2017 and 2022, headstarting was trialled as a tool to supplement the critically small sub‐population of black‐tailed godwit (Limosa limosa limosa) breeding at the Ouse Washes, Eastern England. We demonstrate that a high survival rate for eggs and chicks can be achieved through artificial incubation and hand‐rearing, and that headstarting can substantially increase the overall productivity of a small population. Using survival analysis and mixed effects modelling, we show that apparent survival and breeding success of headstarted individuals is comparable to wild‐reared conspecifics. The survival rate of released birds was sufficient to significantly boost the breeding population, reaching over five times the number of breeding pairs at the release site during the trial. Providing demographic rates remain the same, the number of godwits breeding at the Ouse Washes is predicted to continue to increase moderately over the next 20 years. This study highlights the potential of headstarting to boost small populations of breeding waders, and demonstrates the value of this technique to assist with the recovery of threatened populations when there is a clear justification that headstarting can negate the effects of population limiting factors.

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启蒙教育提高了濒危涉禽黑尾鸥的数量

在长期保护干预措施生效的同时，提高种群数量的措施有助于确保种群在短期内持续存在。起头是指收集野生的早期生命阶段个体，人工饲养，一旦独立后释放到新的或现有的种群中，最近被认为是一种潜在的迁移技术，可以帮助因生产力水平低而衰退的小型涉禽繁殖种群。然而，翘首个体的繁殖率尚未被量化，其对目标种群的影响也未被了解，而这是确定该技术作为物种恢复工具的有效性所必需的。2017年至2022年期间，我们在英格兰东部的乌斯河流域试行了起头技术，作为补充黑尾鲣鸟（Limosa limosa limosa）繁殖的极小亚种群的一种工具。我们证明，通过人工孵化和人工饲养，可以实现较高的鸟蛋和雏鸟存活率，而且起头可以大幅提高小种群的整体生产力。通过生存分析和混合效应建模，我们发现起头个体的存活率和繁殖成功率与野生饲养的同种个体相当。放归鸟类的存活率足以显著提高繁殖种群的数量，在试验期间，放归地的繁殖对数达到五倍以上。如果繁殖率保持不变，预计在未来20年内，在乌斯河流域繁殖的鲣鸟数量将继续适度增长。这项研究凸显了起头技术在促进小种群鸻鹬繁殖方面的潜力，并证明了在有明确理由证明起头技术可以消除种群限制因素影响的情况下，这项技术在帮助受威胁种群恢复方面的价值。

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来源期刊

Animal Conservation 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

5.90%

发文量

审稿时长

12-24 weeks

期刊介绍： Animal Conservation provides a forum for rapid publication of novel, peer-reviewed research into the conservation of animal species and their habitats. The focus is on rigorous quantitative studies of an empirical or theoretical nature, which may relate to populations, species or communities and their conservation. We encourage the submission of single-species papers that have clear broader implications for conservation of other species or systems. A central theme is to publish important new ideas of broad interest and with findings that advance the scientific basis of conservation. Subjects covered include population biology, epidemiology, evolutionary ecology, population genetics, biodiversity, biogeography, palaeobiology and conservation economics.