PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #92: Conservation Ecology: Genetics, population viability, interactions.
Presiding: W. Wirtz
Thursday, August 8. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Grand Ballroom West, Radisson.
Population viability analysis for the reintroduction of Turkish mouflon (Ovis gmelinii anatolica).
SEZEN, ZEYNEP*,1,2, BILGIN, C. CAN1, AK
AKAYA, H. RESIT3, 1 Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey2 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA3 Applied Biomathematics, Setauket, NY
ABSTRACT- Population viability analysis was carried out for the only extant population of Turkish mouflon Ovis gmelinii anatolica, which had been extirpated in all except one site within its former range. In order to ensure the long-term survival of the subspecies through the establishment of a viable metapopulation, scenarios for the best translocation options were evaluated and the effect of poaching on the future persistence of the subspecies was investigated. Results of analyses show that under present conditions, the Bozda&gmacr; population is viable with a probability of more than 99% over a 100-year period. In the translocation scenarios, the age distribution of individuals to be translocated was found to have a non-significant effect, whereas the number of individuals to be translocated had a significant effect on the extinction risk of the metapopulation. All translocation scenario results revealed that any translocation event decreased the probability of decline compared to the alternative of no translocation.The effect of poaching of females caused a significant increase in the metapopulation risk of decline. The population was found to be so sensitive to poaching that even the loss of a single female per year increased the risk of decline by two-fold. Results suggest that the reintroduced population has a high chance of becoming established provided that poaching is strictly prevented in the new site.
KEY WORDS: population viability analysis, reintroduction, Turkish mouflon, Ovis gmelinii anatolica