Translocation is an important tool in restoring biodiversity, particularly when species have been extirpated from an area. In the period just after release, the main objective of conservation managers is to keep as many of the translocated individuals in the release area as possible, in order to maximize the number of founders of the new population. Environmental and intrinsic factors, release conditions and social behaviour are likely to influence an individual’s propensity to move away from the release site (known as post-release dispersal); however, few studies have explored the relative importance of these factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate how these four factors affected the post-release dispersal of 169 Iberian ibex translocated from Spain to the French Pyrenees. We modelled the linear distance between the barycentre of each individual ibex’s monthly locations and the release site. Our results indicated that most individuals stayed close to the release site, but that inter-individual variability was high. Post-release dispersal was higher for males than females, with male breeders exhibiting higher exploration behaviour than juveniles. Release season played a major role, with dispersal being the lowest in spring and the highest during the rutting period. Dispersal was also found to be lower when conspecifics were present in the release area, probably due to their role as a cue for favourable habitat. These findings can be used by conservation managers to inform translocation strategies in order to enhance success: for example by releasing females and young males in spring and splitting a reintroduction project into successive release operations.

中文翻译：

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内在因素、释放条件和同种动物的存在影响伊比利亚野山羊易位后的释放后扩散

易地是恢复生物多样性的重要工具，特别是当物种从一个地区灭绝时。在刚刚释放的时期，保护管理者的主要目标是尽可能多地将易地个体留在释放区域，以最大限度地增加新种群的创建者数量。环境和内在因素、释放条件和社会行为可能会影响个人离开释放地点的倾向（称为释放后分散）；然而，很少有研究探讨这些因素的相对重要性。本研究的目的是评估这四个因素如何影响 169 头伊比利亚野山羊从西班牙转移到法国比利牛斯山脉的释放后散布。我们模拟了每个 ibex 每月位置的重心与发布地点之间的线性距离。我们的结果表明，大多数人都靠近释放地点，但个体间的变异性很高。雄性放归后的扩散率高于雌性，雄性繁殖者比幼体表现出更高的探索行为。放生季节起到了重要作用，春季散播最少，车辙期散播最多。当释放区域中存在同种物种时，也发现扩散较低，这可能是由于它们作为有利栖息地的线索。保护管理者可以使用这些发现来为易地策略提供信息，以提高成功率：