Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States
Wildlife translocation is an often-used technique to augment populations or remove animals from harm’s way. Unfortunately, many translocation efforts fail to meet their goals for myriad reasons, particularly because translocated animals make large, erratic movements after release, which can result i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/8/1358 |
| _version_ | 1797560078674427904 |
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| author | Brett DeGregorio Raymond Moody Hannah Myers |
| author_facet | Brett DeGregorio Raymond Moody Hannah Myers |
| author_sort | Brett DeGregorio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wildlife translocation is an often-used technique to augment populations or remove animals from harm’s way. Unfortunately, many translocation efforts fail to meet their goals for myriad reasons, particularly because translocated animals make large, erratic movements after release, which can result in high mortality rates. Soft release, holding animals in acclimation pens for some period of time at the recipient site before release, has been proposed as a technique to reduce these large movements and increase the survival of translocated animals. Here, we compared the survival and movement patterns of soft-released Texas horned lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) with resident lizards, as well as hard-released lizards from a prior study. Juvenile lizards that were soft-released had high survival rates similar to resident lizards, despite still moving more frequently and occupying larger home ranges than residents. Conversely, soft-released adult lizards had survival rates similar to those that were hard-released, and much lower rates than resident adults. Curiously, soft-released adults did not have significantly higher movement rates or home range sizes than residents. Our results suggest that caution should be used before adult Texas horned lizards are translocated. However, juveniles responded well to soft release, and future research should explore whether they are more resilient to translocation in general, or if soft release provided a specific survival advantage. Contrary to our predictions, the survival of translocated animals was not related to their post-release movement patterns, and the mechanism underlying the observed survival patterns is unclear. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:54:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e90bb1cc23a24cea915993b742df773a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:54:22Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-e90bb1cc23a24cea915993b742df773a2023-11-20T09:15:00ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-08-01108135810.3390/ani10081358Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United StatesBrett DeGregorio0Raymond Moody1Hannah Myers2United States Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit, University of Arkansas, 850 W Dickson St., Fayetteville, AR 72701, USAUSAF 72nd ABW/CE, Environmental Compliance Natural Resources, Tinker AFB, OK 73145, USAUSAF 72nd ABW/CE, Environmental Compliance Natural Resources, Tinker AFB, OK 73145, USAWildlife translocation is an often-used technique to augment populations or remove animals from harm’s way. Unfortunately, many translocation efforts fail to meet their goals for myriad reasons, particularly because translocated animals make large, erratic movements after release, which can result in high mortality rates. Soft release, holding animals in acclimation pens for some period of time at the recipient site before release, has been proposed as a technique to reduce these large movements and increase the survival of translocated animals. Here, we compared the survival and movement patterns of soft-released Texas horned lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) with resident lizards, as well as hard-released lizards from a prior study. Juvenile lizards that were soft-released had high survival rates similar to resident lizards, despite still moving more frequently and occupying larger home ranges than residents. Conversely, soft-released adult lizards had survival rates similar to those that were hard-released, and much lower rates than resident adults. Curiously, soft-released adults did not have significantly higher movement rates or home range sizes than residents. Our results suggest that caution should be used before adult Texas horned lizards are translocated. However, juveniles responded well to soft release, and future research should explore whether they are more resilient to translocation in general, or if soft release provided a specific survival advantage. Contrary to our predictions, the survival of translocated animals was not related to their post-release movement patterns, and the mechanism underlying the observed survival patterns is unclear.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/8/1358conservationhard releasejuveniles<i>Phrynosoma</i>soft releasetranslocation |
| spellingShingle | Brett DeGregorio Raymond Moody Hannah Myers Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States Animals conservation hard release juveniles <i>Phrynosoma</i> soft release translocation |
| title | Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States |
| title_full | Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States |
| title_fullStr | Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States |
| title_short | Soft Release Translocation of Texas Horned Lizards (<i>Phrynosoma cornutum</i>) on an Urban Military Installation in Oklahoma, United States |
| title_sort | soft release translocation of texas horned lizards i phrynosoma cornutum i on an urban military installation in oklahoma united states |
| topic | conservation hard release juveniles <i>Phrynosoma</i> soft release translocation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/8/1358 |
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