Exploring Studbooks for Wildlife Management and Conservation

293 Pages·2016·5.419 MB·English

by  F.P.G. Princée (auth.)

Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation
F.P.G. Princée
Exploring
Studbooks
for Wildlife
Management and
Conservation
Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume 17
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/7488
F.P.G. Princée
Exploring Studbooks
for Wildlife Management
and Conservation
123
F.P.G.Princée
PopulationManagementandWildlifeConservation
EastRudham,Norfolk,UK
ISSN1875-1288 ISSN1875-1296 (electronic)
TopicsinBiodiversityandConservation
ISBN978-3-319-50031-7 ISBN978-3-319-50032-4 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-50032-4
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016961290
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Preface
Some 35 years ago, I became involved in conservation of endangered animal
species. It all started while I was a biology student at the Biological Department
oftheRoyalRotterdamZoologicalandBotanicalGardens(“BlijdorpZoo”).Itwas
around the time that the international zoo world introduced cooperative species
management programmes, based on demographic and genetic science, in order
to establish self-sustaining populations of endangered species. This created an
environmentinwhichappliedandfundamentalresearchwereintertwinedandwhich
shapedmyscientificbackgroundinpopulationgenetics.
The introduction of personal computers opened a “new” creative platform that
allowedmetodeveloptheskillsofcomputerprogramming.Thisresultedindevel-
opingsimulationmodelstoexplorepopulationgeneticprocessesinrealpopulations
with their complex pedigrees. The first computer program that I developed was
followedbythenext,andthenext,etc.resultinginstudbooksoftwarethatincluded
arangeofdemographicandgeneticanalyses.
The catalyst for writing this book dates back to the years that I worked for
the Dutch National Foundation for Research in Zoological Gardens/European
Association of Zoos and Aquaria. Teaching, training and advising coordinators
of European Endangered Species Programmes (EEPs) in population biology and
studbook software meant exposure to a diversity of practical problems in species
management. Solutions to some of these problems may be embedded in the
studbookitself,andthatiswhereexploringstarts.
I participated in various workshops of the IUCN/SSC/Conservation Breeding
Specialist Group in which the knowledge of zoo and wildlife professionals was
exchanged and combined. These workshops, the Population and Habitat Viability
AssessmentoftheArubaislandrattlesnakeinparticular,exposedmetothereality
offieldconservation.
I became more directly involved in nature conservation projects in the 1990s
through the conservation fund of the Dutch zoos. The induction was a population
viability study on lions in the Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda) that was
v
vi Preface
carriedoutbyMakerereUniversity(Kampala).Individualidentificationoflions,a
smallpopulationandurbanisedareasactingasabarriertomovementdonotmake
itdifficulttoforeseestudbook-stylemanagementinthefuture.
A few years later, I started to write the first chapters while living next to
Ranomafana National Park, a rainforest in the south-east of Madagascar. No zoo
environment, but wild nature. However, the state of some endangered species in
this42,000haprotectedareahighlightedthatnatureis(gradually)becomingabig
zoo.Take,forexample,thecloselymonitoredgreaterbamboolemurpopulationin
this park at that time. One day there were six animals, the next day one animal
was “missing”, and one month later a young was born, bringing the group total
backtosix.Thisdoesn’tsoundlikeawildpopulationbutmorecloselyresemblesa
zoogroup.Fieldconservationisexploringtoo,asresearchersdiscoveredfournew
groups, totalling more than 100 individuals, in fragmented bamboo forests within
theperipheralzoneoftheparkin2009and2010.
The idea of exploring studbook data for its relevance to conservation in the
naturalhabitatwasreinforcedwhileIwaslivinginDzangaSanghaProtectedAreas
(Central African Republic). The secretive lifestyle of many of the inhabitants of
this tropical rainforest not only makes it difficult to assess population sizes but
alsotoobtainnaturalhistorydatathatarerequiredforconservationmeasures.My
backgroundpromptedmetoaskzoocolleaguesforstudbookdatainordertoextract
basicbiologicalinformationonspeciesintheprotectedarea.IhaveincludedaPVA
studyonlowlandbongoasanexampleinthisbook.
Exploring studbook data “forced” me to explore statistics in more depth than
I had done before. Studbooks are relatively small and the issue of reliability
of estimated parameters cannot be ignored. Moreover, problem-solving involves
comparative studies that simply require significance tests. However, this is not a
bookonstudbookstatistics.Themainfocusisexploringthewealthof(biological)
datainstudbooks,inwhichstatisticscanplayasupportingrole.
Ihaveselectedtopicsindemographicsandgeneticsofstudbookpopulationsthat
deservemoreattention,butwhichcanbestudiedinstandarddatasets.Thesetopics
are interconnected, which means that, for example, life tables are used in tests
for inbreeding depression and litter size is considered as a “trait” in quantitative
genetics.
Thisbookisintendedforprofessionalsinzooandwildlifeconservationwhoare
involved in management of captive populations; reintroduction or management of
small,isolated,fragmentedpopulationsinthewild;andforresearchersandstudents
who are planning studies that are based on studbook populations or who want to
explorewhatstudbookdatacanofferfortopicsinacademicresearch.
EastRudham,UK F.P.G.Princée
September,2016
Acknowledgements
Amonographistheworkofasingleauthorbutnotofasinglemind.Thisbookisthe
resultofexperiencesandideasthathavebeenaccumulatedoveryearsandhavebeen
shapedbydiscussionswithcolleagues,fromzookeepertodirectorandfromranger
togamewarden,aswellaswithcolleaguesingovernments,NGOsanduniversities.
First of all, I would like to thank Anna Feistner for reading this book through
severaltimeswithaneditorialeyeandforhercommentsandideasasaconservation
biologist. I am indebted to Anna for her encouragement, support and trust in
enabling me to realise a book which took considerably more time than I had once
optimisticallyforeseen.IthankBertdeBoerforhisvaluablecommentsonanearlier
draftandideasthathelpedinstreamliningthisbook.
I could not have written this book without access to real-time computerised
studbooksonendangeredspecies.Ithankthefollowingspeciesmanagers/studbook
keepers and the institutions to whom they are or were affiliated: Richard Barnes
(Port Lympne Reserve, UK), Rob Belterman (Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands),
Leif Blomqvist (Nordic Ark, Sweden, and Helsinki Zoo, Finland), Lydia Frazier
Bosley (Logsden, USA), Angela Glatston (Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands),
GerardMeijer(OuwehandsZoo,TheNetherlands),HannyVerberkmoesandWim
Verberkmoes (GaiaZOO, The Netherlands) for providing their studbook data to
be used as examples in this book. I acknowledge Andrea Turkalo (the Wildlife
ConservationSociety,USA)forfielddataonlowlandbongoinDzangaBaie.
I would like to thank Jonathan Ballou, Laurie Bingaman-Lackey, Lisa Faust,
Robert Lacy, Nathan Flesness and Andy Odum for discussions, some of which
startedyearsago,onvarioustopicsindemography,geneticsandstudbooksoftware.
Erik Postma is acknowledged for explaining assumptions that are made regarding
missingparentsintheanimalmodel.
Ludwig Siefert is acknowledged for introducing me to the reality of field
conservationwhenIwasinvolvedinsupportingtheUgandanlion/carnivoreproject.
I thank Jean-Claude Razafimahaimodison for all discussions when I exchanged
the comfort of analysing zoo populations for interpreting transect data from
RanomafanaNationalPark.AngeliqueToddandAndreaTurkaloareacknowledged
forintroducingmetotheworldofgorillas,forestelephantsandlowlandbongo.
vii
Contents
PartI Introduction
1 Introduction................................................................. 3
1.1 ABriefHistory...................................................... 3
1.2 FromRegistertoManagement..................................... 4
1.3 PopulationManagementTriangle.................................. 5
1.4 ExploringStudbooks ............................................... 7
1.4.1 NaturalHistory........................................... 7
1.4.2 Census.................................................... 8
1.4.3 LifeTables ............................................... 8
1.4.4 GeneticAnalyses ........................................ 9
1.5 ConservationData .................................................. 10
1.6 MoreTopics......................................................... 11
References.................................................................... 11
2 StudbooksandSoftware................................................... 15
2.1 Introduction ......................................................... 15
2.2 StudbookExamples................................................. 16
2.2.1 RedCrownedCraneGrusjaponensis................... 16
2.2.2 AfricanWildDogLycaonpictus........................ 17
2.2.3 RedPandaAilurusfulgens .............................. 17
2.2.4 EuropeanWolverineGulogulogulo.................... 18
2.2.5 SnowLeopardUnciauncia ............................. 18
2.2.6 CalifornianSeaLionZalophuscalifornianus .......... 19
2.2.7 BongoTragelaphuseurycerus .......................... 19
2.2.8 BlesbokDamalisicuspygargusphillipsi................ 19
2.3 SoftwareTools ...................................................... 20
2.3.1 PopulationManagementLibrary........................ 21
References.................................................................... 22
ix
x Contents
PartII DemographicAnalyses
3 NaturalHistory............................................................. 27
3.1 Introduction ......................................................... 27
3.2 LifespanandLongevity............................................. 28
3.2.1 EstimatedDates.......................................... 30
3.2.2 Longevity................................................. 31
3.2.3 Pathologist’sView....................................... 34
3.2.4 HistoryandHusbandry.................................. 34
3.2.5 EarlyLifeStages......................................... 36
3.2.6 DifferencesBetweenSexes.............................. 37
3.3 ReproductiveLifespan.............................................. 40
3.3.1 AgeatFirstReproduction............................... 41
3.3.2 Artefacts.................................................. 42
3.4 LitterSize ........................................................... 42
3.4.1 AssessingLitterSize..................................... 43
3.4.2 DateRangeinLitter/ClutchSize........................ 44
3.5 Seasonality .......................................................... 45
3.5.1 MeanDate................................................ 45
3.5.2 SeasonalityinBirths..................................... 46
3.5.3 SeasonalityinDeaths.................................... 51
3.6 Inter–BirthInterval ................................................. 52
3.6.1 ManagementEffects..................................... 53
3.6.2 Egg–LayingSpecies..................................... 55
References.................................................................... 55
4 CensusAnalysis............................................................. 59
4.1 CountingAnimals................................................... 59
4.2 CensusDate......................................................... 61
4.3 Census............................................................... 61
4.4 PopulationGrowth.................................................. 63
4.5 Sex–Ratio ........................................................... 65
References.................................................................... 66
5 Births,DeathsandMigration ............................................. 69
5.1 CensusEvents....................................................... 69
5.2 Births ................................................................ 70
5.2.1 Sex–RatioatBirth ....................................... 73
5.3 Deaths ............................................................... 76
5.4 Migration............................................................ 78
5.4.1 MigrationPatterns ....................................... 79
5.5 BringingitTogether ................................................ 80
References.................................................................... 81