Fitness Costs of Neighborhood Disruption in Translocations of a Solitary Mammal

Abstract

Translocation is used to reestablish wild populations of animals, but translocation projects often do not meet their objectives because postrelease mortality of animals is high. One reason for translocation failure is that the behavioral or ecological requirements of released animals are unmet. Maintaining founder-group social relationships during release can affect reestablishment of social species. Solitary territorial species with stable neighbors (restricted dispersal and lifetime occupation of a home range) of the same species may also benefit from the maintenance of these social relationships during translocation. We translocated Stephens' kangaroo rats (Dipodomys stephensi), a solitary species listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, with and without neighboring kangaroo rats. We compared the settlement (establishment of a stable home range) decisions and fitness of kangaroo rats between the 2 treatments. Kangaroo rats translocated with neighbors traveled shorter distances before establishing territories, had higher survival rates, and had significantly higher reproductive success than kangaroo rats translocated without neighbors. Number of offspring was 24-fold higher for kangaroo rats translocated with neighbors than those translocated without neighbors. Differences in behavior following release may partially explain differences in survival between the 2 groups. Immediately following release, animals translocated with neighbors fought less and spent significantly more time foraging and digging burrows than animals translocated without neighbors. Our results indicate that even for solitary species, maintaining relationships among members of a translocated group of animals can influence translocation success. This study is the first empirical demonstration of the fitness consequences of disrupting social relationships among territorial neighbors.