Conservation Science Partners, Inc., 11050 Pioneer Trail, Suite 202, Truckee, CA, 96161, U.S.A.
Landscape Conservation Initiative, School of Earth and Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 5694, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-5694, U.S.A.
Conserv Biol. 2019 Oct;33(5):1094-1105. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13301. Epub 2019 Apr 22.
Translocation is used by managers to mitigate the negative impacts of development on species. Moving individuals to a new location is challenging, and many translocation attempts have failed. Robust, posttranslocation monitoring is therefore important for evaluating effects of translocation on target species. We evaluated the efficacy of a translocation designed to mitigate the effects of a utility-scale solar energy project on the U.S. federally listed Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). The species is a long-lived reptile threatened by a variety of factors, including habitat loss due to renewable energy development in the Mojave Desert and portions of the Colorado Desert in southern California (southwestern United States). We translocated 58 individual tortoises away from the project's construction site and intensively monitored them over 5 years (2012-2017). We monitored these individuals and tortoises located in the translocation release area (resident tortoises; n = 112) and control tortoises (n = 149) in a nearby location. We used our tortoise encounter data and known-fate survival models to estimate annual and cumulative survival. Translocated tortoises in each of 2 size classes (120-160 mm, >160 mm) did not survive at lower rates than resident and control tortoises over the study period. For models with different sets of biotic and abiotic covariates, annual and cumulative estimates of survival were always >0.87 and >0.56, respectively. Larger tortoises tended to have higher survival, but translocated tortoises were not differentially affected by the covariates used to model variation in survival. Based on these findings, our translocation design and study protocols could inform other translocation projects for desert species. Our case study highlights the benefits of combining rigorous scientific monitoring with well-designed, mitigation-driven management actions to reduce the negative effects of development on species of conservation concern.
转位被管理者用来减轻发展对物种的负面影响。将个体转移到新的位置具有挑战性，许多转移尝试都失败了。因此，强大的转移后监测对于评估转移对目标物种的影响非常重要。我们评估了一项旨在减轻美国联邦列出的莫哈韦沙漠龟（Gopherus agassizii）因公用事业规模太阳能项目而受到影响的转移计划的效果。该物种是一种寿命长的爬行动物，受到多种因素的威胁，包括由于可再生能源在莫哈韦沙漠和加利福尼亚州南部科罗拉多沙漠部分地区的开发而导致的栖息地丧失（美国西南部）。我们将 58 只个体龟从项目建设现场转移出去，并在 5 年内对它们进行了密集监测（2012-2017 年）。我们监测了这些个体龟和位于转移释放区的本地龟（居民龟；n = 112）和控制龟（n = 149）。我们使用我们的龟类遭遇数据和已知命运生存模型来估计每年和累计的生存。在研究期间，每个大小类别（120-160 毫米，>160 毫米）的转移龟的存活率都不低于本地龟和控制龟。对于具有不同生物和非生物协变量集的模型，每年和累计的生存估计值始终>0.87 和>0.56。较大的龟类的生存倾向于更高，但转移龟类不受用于模拟生存变化的协变量的差异影响。基于这些发现，我们的转移设计和研究方案可以为其他沙漠物种的转移项目提供信息。我们的案例研究强调了将严格的科学监测与精心设计的缓解驱动的管理行动相结合的好处，以减少发展对受保护物种的负面影响。
