Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
Curr Biol. 2021 May 24;31(10):R465-R466. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.017.
Introduced predators threaten prey species worldwide, but strategies to protect vulnerable wildlife from introduced predators can be expensive, time-consuming, and logistically difficult. Novel conservation strategies that reduce predation affordably and efficiently must be explored. 'Headstarting' is one such strategy, whereby prey are isolated from predators only during the critical early life stage before being returned to the wild, thus improving juvenile survivorship and recruitment to contribute to an increase in population growth. Headstarting is a particularly useful conservation strategy for species facing higher levels of a threatening process during only the early part of their life history when mortality rates are higher, and has demonstrably improved conservation outcomes for birds and marine species. Here we report findings from the first known headstarting program for a terrestrial mammal, the endangered bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata) at Avocet Nature Refuge (henceforth 'Avocet') in Queensland, Australia.
引入的捕食者会威胁到全球范围内的猎物物种，但保护易受引入的捕食者威胁的脆弱野生动物的策略可能既昂贵又耗时，且在物流上也具有挑战性。必须探索能够经济高效地减少捕食的新保护策略。“预先孵化”就是这样一种策略，即在将幼崽放回野外之前，将其与捕食者隔离开来，仅在关键的早期生命阶段，从而提高幼崽的存活率并增加其对种群增长的贡献。对于那些在其生命历史的早期阶段面临更高威胁水平的物种，预先孵化是一种特别有用的保护策略，因为在这个阶段，死亡率更高，并且已经明显改善了鸟类和海洋物种的保护成果。在这里，我们报告了澳大利亚昆士兰州阿沃塞特自然保护区（简称“阿沃塞特”）首例已知的陆地哺乳动物预先孵化计划的结果，该计划针对的是濒危的有领袋狸（Onychogalea fraenata）。
