Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
Conserv Biol. 2012 Feb;26(1):107-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01746.x. Epub 2011 Oct 6.
Releasing animals in more than one location may increase or decrease the probability of success of a reintroduction project, yet the question of how many release sites to use has received little attention. We used empirical data from the reintroduction program of the Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) (Galilee region in northern Israel) in an individual-based spatially explicit simulation model to assess the effects of releasing deer from multiple sites. We examined whether multiple release sites increase reintroduction success, and if so, whether the optimal number of sites for a given scenario can be determined and whether the outcome differs if animals are released alternately (i.e., the location of the release alternates yearly between sites) or consecutively (i.e., one release site is used for several years, then another is used, and so forth). We selected 8 potential release sites in addition to the original site and simulated the release of 180 individuals at a rate of 10 individuals per year in different combinations of the original site and 1-4 additional sites. In our model, releasing animals into the wild at multiple sites produced higher population growth and greater spatial expansion than releasing animals at only one site and a consecutive-release approach was superior to an alternate-release approach. We suggest that through the use of simulation modeling that is based on empirical data from previous releases, managers can make better-informed decisions regarding the use of multiple release sites and greatly improve the probability of reintroduction success.
在多个地点释放动物可能会增加或降低重新引入项目成功的概率，但使用多少个释放地点的问题却很少受到关注。我们使用了来自以色列北部加利利地区波斯黇鹿（Dama mesopotamica）重新引入计划的经验数据，通过基于个体的空间明确模拟模型来评估从多个地点释放鹿的效果。我们研究了多个释放地点是否会增加重新引入的成功，以及如果是这样，是否可以确定给定情况下的最佳释放地点数量，以及如果动物交替释放（即释放地点每年在不同地点之间交替）或连续释放（即一个释放地点使用几年，然后另一个释放地点被使用，依此类推），结果是否会有所不同。我们选择了 8 个潜在的释放地点，除了原始地点外，还模拟了以每年 10 个个体的速度在原始地点和 1-4 个附加地点的不同组合中释放 180 个个体。在我们的模型中，在多个地点释放动物比在一个地点释放动物产生更高的种群增长和更大的空间扩张，并且连续释放方法优于交替释放方法。我们建议，通过使用基于以前释放经验数据的模拟模型，管理者可以更好地做出关于使用多个释放地点的决策，并大大提高重新引入成功的概率。
