establishing and reinforcing populations

the deliberate placement of organisms to achieve “measurable conservation benefit at the levels of a population, species, or ecosystem”

conservation translocation

types of conservation translocation

reintroduction program, reinforcement programs, introduction program

release captive-bred or wild-collected individuals at an ecologically suitable site within their historical range where the species no longer occurs

Reintroduction program

examples of reintroductions

• eastern indigo snake back into alabama

• gray wolves in Yellowstone

releasing individuals into an existing population to increase population size, increase gene pool, an adjust age or sex structures

reinforcement program

examples of reinforcement

texas cougars to reinforce florida panther population

moving captive-bred or wild-collected animals or plants to an area suitable for the species outside of their historical range

introduction program

when does introduction conservation translocation usually occur

when threats that caused the decline still exist in their historical range

another term for introduction conservation translocation

assisted colonization

example of introduction conservation

Kakapo - flightless parrot native the New Zealand that was introduced to offshore islands since nonnative predators had ruined their populations on mainland

considerations before translocation

• current and future threats

• ecology of the species

• genetics of species and released individuals

• can the habitat support current and future populations

• risk of invasive traits

• human concerns

• removal plan if failure