Inter-aviary distance and visual access influence conservation breeding outcomes in a territorial, endangered bird

Funding for setting up the housing database was provided by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC; grant BB/G023913/2 to C.R.).Species extinctions are becoming a global crisis, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services, with island populations being particularly vulnerable. In response, conservation managers are increasingly turning to ex situ conservation breeding programs to establish assurance populations and provide a source for release and re-establishment of wild populations. The 'Alalā (Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis) is a critically endangered and territorial island corvid that became extinct in the wild in 2002, following a severe and prolonged population decline during the late 20th century. Surviving individuals of the species were brought into captivity to establish an assurance population to serve as a source for reintroduction, which commenced in 2016. We analyzed the extent to which a range of captive housing conditions impact 'Alalā reproductive success, using 19 years of breeding program data. We found that reproductive success was most strongly affected by the distance between aviaries and their closest neighbors and whether breeding pairs had visual access to other adult conspecifics. Pairs located in aviaries that were more spatially isolated and without visual access to conspecifics were more likely to produce fertile eggs than pairs housed in aviaries that were closer to others or those with visual access to other birds. Our results have direct management implications relevant to the design of conservation breeding centers geared towards the recovery of endangered, territorial bird species. Moreover, since suboptimal housing conditions can increase stress levels in captive birds, our findings are also relevant to improving animal welfare for 'Alalā and other species in conservation breeding programs.PostprintPeer reviewe

The influence of pair duration on reproductive success in the monogamous ‘Alalā (Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis)

Conservation breeding program practitioners select potential mates in an attempt to maximize pair compatibility and maintain genetic diversity. Therefore, pair duration, or the number of breeding seasons that individuals retain the same mate, is practitioner-determined in these settings. There is a critical need to evaluate whether pair duration influences reproductive success in ex situ assurance populations, particularly for socially monogamous species. The ‘Alalā (Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis) is a monogamous forest bird that is currently extinct in the wild. Today, ‘Alalā exist only in human care for intensive conservation breeding. We analyzed breeding program data from 2018-2021 to determine the effects of ‘Alalā pair duration and age on reproduction (nest building, egg laying, hatching, and fledging). We found that pair duration does not influence reproductive outcomes, and thus practitioners can be more proactive when re-pairing birds. Female and male age, on the other hand, influenced the probability of nest building, clutch production, and overall reproductive success. Nest building and clutch production probabilities were high (near 1) and stable as females aged from 2 to ~ 12 years old, declining sharply thereafter. In males, overall reproductive success (from building robust nests to rearing at least one nestling to fledge) increased with age from 2 to ~ 9 years old, peaked and reached an asymptote with males ≳ 9 to ~ 13 years old, and decreased in males ≳ 13 years old. Thus, integrating age into the pair selection process will increase the likelihood of achieving conservation goals. To our knowledge, we are the first to utilize empirical pair duration results to provide specific management recommendations for mate selection in an avian conservation breeding program. Our findings have critical utility for guiding ‘Alalā pairing decisions, and more broadly underscore the importance of evaluating mate retention and selection protocols in other conservation breeding programs

Mitigation-driven translocations: are we moving wildlife in the right direction?

Despite rapid growth in the field of reintroduction biology, many lessons learned from scientific research are not being applied to translocations initiated when human land-use conflicts with persistence of a species. Mitigation-driven translocations outnumber and receive better funding than science-based conservation translocations worldwide, yet their conservation benefit is unclear. As mitigation releases are economically motivated, outcomes may diverge greatly from releases designed to serve the biological needs of species. Translocation as a regulatory tool may be ill-fitted to biologically mitigate environmental damage wrought by development. Evidence suggests that many mitigation-driven translocations fail, though application of scientific principles and best-practices could likely increase success. Furthermore, lack of transparency and documentation of outcomes hinder efforts to understand the scope of the problem. If mitigation-driven translocations continue unabated as a part of the growing billion-dollar ecological consulting industry, it is imperative that the scale and effects of these releases are reported and evaluated

Animal Welfare in Conservation Breeding: Applications and Challenges

Animal welfare and conservation breeding have overlapping and compatible goals that are occasionally divergent. Efforts to improve enclosures, provide enriching experiences, and address behavioral and physical needs further the causes of animal welfare in all zoo settings. However, by mitigating stress, increasing behavioral competence, and enhancing reproduction, health, and survival, conservation breeding programs must also focus on preparing animals for release into the wild. Therefore, conservation breeding facilities must strike a balance of promoting high welfare, while minimizing the effects of captivity to increase population sustainability. As part of the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program, San Diego Zoo Global operates two captive breeding facilities that house a number of endangered Hawaiian bird species. At our facilities we aim to increase captive animal welfare through husbandry, nutrition, behavior-based enrichment, and integrated veterinary practices. These efforts help foster a captive environment that promotes the development of species-typical behaviors. By using the “Opportunities to Thrive” guiding principles, we outline an outcome-based welfare strategy, and detail some of the related management inputs, such as transitioning to parental rearing, and conducting veterinary exams remotely. Throughout we highlight our evidence-based approach for evaluating our practices, by monitoring welfare and the effectiveness of our inputs. Additionally we focus on some of the unique challenges associated with improving welfare in conservation breeding facilitates and outline concrete future steps for improving and evaluating welfare outcomes that also meet conservation goals

Affective economies, pandas, and the atmospheric politics of lively capital

This paper is concerned with the affective economies of lively capital. Its central argument is that nonhuman life itself has become a locus of accumulation, marked by an atmospheric politics of capital: the intensification of relations between life and productivity by incorporating entire lifeworlds into regimes of generating value. Focusing on the Giant panda – a spectacular icon raising millions of dollars globally – the paper first examines junctures at which their charismatic affects emerge and are manipulated to produce value. Turning to panda lifeworlds in zoos, it then shows how such value production is contingent upon affective labours nonhumans perform in captivity. Nonhuman labour, as a component of atmospheric politics, enables understanding how lively capital is produced and reproduced, a theme interrogated through a critical analysis of the commercial global circulation of pandas. The paper develops the concept of atmospheric politics – an intervention in an animal’s milieu and its affective intensities – as a means for analyzing the dynamics of lively capital. Atmospheric politics retrieves a critical political economy obscured by the concept of nonhuman charisma, and restages biopower as an apparatus and political technology of capital.Parts of the research conducted for this paper was enabled by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award No. pf140038)

Reduction in Predator Defense in the Presence of Neighbors in a Colonial Fish

Predation pressure has long been considered a leading explanation of colonies, where close neighbors may reduce predation via dilution, alarming or group predator attacks. Attacking predators may be costly in terms of energy and survival, leading to the question of how neighbors contribute to predator deterrence in relationship to each other. Two hypotheses explaining the relative efforts made by neighbors are byproduct-mutualism, which occurs when breeders inadvertently attack predators by defending their nests, and reciprocity, which occurs when breeders deliberately exchange predator defense efforts with neighbors. Most studies investigating group nest defense have been performed with birds. However, colonial fish may constitute a more practical model system for an experimental approach because of the greater ability of researchers to manipulate their environment. We investigated in the colonial fish, Neolamprologus caudopunctatus, whether prospecting pairs preferred to breed near conspecifics or solitarily, and how breeders invested in anti-predator defense in relation to neighbors. In a simple choice test, prospecting pairs selected breeding sites close to neighbors versus a solitary site. Predators were then sequentially presented to the newly established test pairs, the previously established stimulus pairs or in between the two pairs. Test pairs attacked the predator eight times more frequently when they were presented on their non-neighbor side compared to between the two breeding sites, where stimulus pairs maintained high attack rates. Thus, by joining an established pair, test pairs were able to reduce their anti-predator efforts near neighbors, at no apparent cost to the stimulus pairs. These findings are unlikely to be explained by reciprocity or byproduct-mutualism. Our results instead suggest a commensal relationship in which new pairs exploit the high anti-predator efforts of established pairs, which invest similarly with or without neighbors. Further studies are needed to determine the scope of commensalism as an anti-predator strategy in colonial animals