The populations of many species are declining worldwide, and conservation efforts struggle to keep pace with extinction rates. Conservation biologists commonly employ strategies such as translocation and reintroduction, which move individuals of endangered species from one part of their range to another. Because individuals from endangered populations are nonexpendable, identifying any potential barriers to the establishment of viable populations prior to release of individuals should be a priority. This study evaluates the potential for learned communication signals to constrain conservation strategies such as reintroduction in an endangered species, the Thick-billed Parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha). We conducted vocal surveys at three geographically distinct breeding populations in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua, Mexico. Acoustic analyses utilizing both spectrogram cross-correlations and parameter measurements from spectrograms revealed no significant differences among the three sites in two common call types. Calls did vary among individuals within a site. The apparent lack of significant geographic variation across sampled sites suggests that differences in learned communication signals are unlikely to pose a barrier to the integration of translocated individuals from different populations into newly established populations.

中文翻译：

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濒临灭绝的厚嘴鹦鹉的有限地理变异：对保护策略的影响。

许多物种的数量在世界范围内都在下降，保护工作努力跟上灭绝速度。保护生物学家通常采用易位和重新引入等策略，将濒危物种的个体从其分布范围的一部分转移到另一部分。由于来自濒危种群的个体是非消耗性的，因此在释放个体之前确定建立可行种群的任何潜在障碍应该是一个优先事项。这项研究评估了学习交流信号限制保护策略的潜力，例如重新引入濒危物种厚嘴鹦鹉 (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha)。我们对墨西哥奇瓦瓦州西马德雷山脉的三个地理上不同的繁殖种群进行了声音调查。利用频谱图互相关和来自频谱图的参数测量的声学分析显示，在两种常见呼叫类型中，三个站点之间没有显着差异。一个站点内的个人之间的呼叫确实有所不同。采样地点之间明显缺乏显着的地理差异表明，学习到的通信信号的差异不太可能对将来自不同种群的易地个体整合到新建立的种群中构成障碍。