Fitness Costs of Neighborhood Disruption in

Translocations of a Solitary Mammal

Debra M. Shier and Ronald R. Swaisgood
Presentation by Rachel Go, Sarah Lesmeister and Emily
Stenzler

EEB 100 Section 1L

 Background
Focal Species
Stevens' kangaroo rat
(Dipodmys stephensi)
Habitat Loss Translocation
Known to be solitary,
territorial, and
philopatric mammals,
with little social organization
 Link to lecture
● Fitness as a measure of translocation success
● Adaptive social behavior
● Maladaptive social behavior
● Social cooperation
Why this paper?
Defining Terms
Translocation - relocating animals from one location to another to
reestablish populations

Extirpation - local extinction

Conspecifics - members of the same species

Semifossorial - an animal partly adapted to digging

Philopatric - the tendency for animals to remain near a certain area

 Central
Question
How does retention of neighbor relationships
affect the success of translocation for
solitary mammals?
 The researchers set out to test their hypothesis: does maintaining neighbor groups

Methods result in more effective translocation of animals compared to translocating animals

without regard for the species’ social relationships?

Sample: Wild-caught Stephens’ kangaroo rats (39 adult males, 29 adult females, 30 juveniles)
Located on and adjacent to the Southwestern Riverside County Multispecies Reserve
in S. California (N = 99) QUADRAT A QUADRAT B
Mark and recapture tactics to determine the neighbor relationships and territories
Group 1 Group 2

Translocation site: selected for soil type, within species’ historical range
Group 1: translocated with neighbors into respective quadrants (A, D) QUADRAT C QUADRAT D

Group 2: translocated without neighbors into respective quadrants (B, C)

Group 2 Group 1

2 study periods:
September 2008: G1 N = 26; G2 N = 28
July 2009: G1 N = 22; G2 N = 23
 Translocation Process

Translocation Acclimation Observation Recapture and Analysis

01
Translocated both groups (N = 54)
from 2 source locations into
acclimation cages in
4 quadrats on the same night;
Replicated translocation in
respective quadrants (N = 45)
02 03 04
Animals fed during Measured the amount of Retrapped all animals over 2 weeks,
1-week acclimation time spent foraging, 3 months after release, to remove
period, followed by frequency of fight transmitters
removal of cage initiation, mean travel
distance Estimated translocation success
 Measures of Interest
Translocation Success
Estimated by trapping all ear-tagged kangaroo rats that remained at the
release site, their offspring, and any recruits at the site 1 week of each
month throughout the rest of the year

Amount of time spent foraging Fitness Mean travel distances to settlement

Duration in which kangaroo rat Used GPS received to document

placed vegetation in mouth with
forefeet
Frequency of fight initiation
survived at the release site
How often kangaroo
rats chase, lunge, and spar or
engage in a locked battle
Reproductive success
Measured offspring that
emerged per female that
Survival
Assessed survival at
1 month with telemetry data and
retrapped released animals, their
offspring, and recruits for 1 week
at 3 and 6 months after release
the position of each burrow
established on the release site 1
week and 1 month following
release to assess how long it took
the translocated kangaroo rats to
dig burrows during the settlement
period
 50

40

30
Figure 1
20

10

0
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5
Figure 2

note:
● figure c has an error
● bars should be higher
for “with neighbors”
group
Figure 3
Discussion
- The translocated kangaroo rats with neighbors had a better survival rate, more reproductive success

compared to the group without neighbors, and increased settlement

- Kangaroo rats travel less with the presence of neighbors, allows for relationship building with

neighbors

- Females without neighbors had less offspring, had difficulty attracting mates and experienced

physiological stress; the effect of neighbors overall had a greater effect on females than males

- Rats with neighbors initiate less fights, excavate more burrows, and spend more time foraging

- disrupting the relationships of a solitary species negatively affects their translocation

 Questions
1) How might these findings apply to other endangered species facing
relocation by conservation biologists?
2) Given that the post mortality rate is so high for post-release
translocations, what other aspects could be taken into account
besides their social relationships?
3) Why do you think the survival rate of females is significantly greater
compared to males with the presence of neighbors?
Thank you!