Pubblicazione scientifica

Reintroduction and Post-Release Survival of a Living Fossil: The Chinese Giant Salamander

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
economia circolare e sostenibilità
produzione e cattura
produzione e raccolta

RIASSUNTO

Captive rearing and reintroduction / translocation are increasingly used as tools to supplement wild populations of threatened species. Reintroducing captive-reared Chinese giant salamanders may help to augment the declining wild populations and conserve this critically endangered amphibian. We released 31 captive-reared juvenile giant salamanders implanted with VHF radio transmitters at the Heihe River (n = 15) and the Donghe River (n = 16) in the Qinling Mountains of central China. Salamanders were monitored every day for survival from April 28th 2013 to September 3rd 2014. We attempted to recapture all living individuals by the end of the study, measured their body mass and total body length, and checked for abnormalities and presence of external parasites. Two salamanders at the Heihe River and 10 animals at the Donghe River survived through the project timeline. Nine salamanders were confirmed dead, while the status of the other 10 animals was undetermined. The annual survival rate of giant salamanders at the Donghe River (0.702) was 1.7-fold higher than that at the Heihe River (0.405). Survival increased as individuals were held longer following surgery, whereas body mass did not have a significant impact on survival rate. All salamanders recaptured from the Donghe River (n = 8) increased in mass (0.50 ± 0.13 kg) and length (5.5 ± 1.5 cm) after approximately 11 months in the wild, and they were only 7% lighter than wild animals of the same length (mean residual = -0.033 ± 0.025). Our results indicate that captive-reared Chinese giant salamanders can survive in the wild one year after release and adequate surgical recovery time is extremely important to post-release survival. Future projects may reintroduce older juveniles to achieve better survival and longer monitoring duration.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 03/06/2016

AUTORI

ZHANG LU
JIANG WEI
WANG QI-JUN
ZHAO HU
ZHANG HONG-XING
MARCEC RUTH M
WILLARD SCOTT T
KOUBA ANDREW J

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

Shaanxi Institute of Zoology Xi’an Shaanxi China
BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ENTOMOLOGY & PLANT PATHOLOGY DEPT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV MISSISSIPPI STATE MISSISSIPPI USA
CONSERVATION & RSCH DEPT MEMPHIS ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY MEMPHIS TENNESSEE USA
DEPT WILDLIFE FISHERIES & AQUACULTURE MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV MISSISSIPPI STATE MISSISSIPPI USA
CNRS FRANCE

RIVISTA

PLoS ONE, 11(6), e0156715

IMPACT FACTOR

2,870

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