2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
9/28/2018 | 4:30 PM - 4:45 PM | Trials and Tribulations of Species Rescues – The Case of the Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium
Trials and Tribulations of Species Rescues – The Case of the Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken
Attwater’s prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) populations have been perilously close to extinction for >50 years. The estimated population dropped below 1,000 for the first time in 1986, and 10 years later, numbers had declined to fewer than 50. Early conservation efforts focused on life history and basic ecology research – information critical to the recovery process. Under the assumption that loss of grassland habitat was most limiting Attwater’s populations, conservation efforts turned to establishment of protected areas and habitat enhancement work with cooperating private landowners. Finally, as populations continued to decline, a captive rearing program was established in 1992 to preserve remaining genetic information, and to provide source stock for population rescues. The first birds were released from the captive program into wild habitats in 1995. By 2017, over 3,800 birds had been released in an attempt to stabilize free-ranging populations. Monitoring by radio telemetry allowed for evaluation of post-release survival and subsequent refinement of rearing and release protocols. Of 2,605 birds released under current protocols, annual survival averaged 16% (range 7–43%). Recent research revealed that indirect effects of invasive red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) on the chick’s invertebrate food source have resulted in unsustainably high chick mortality. Subsequent management measures to mitigate the fire ant threat have been frustrated by catastrophic rainfall, including three >500-year events since 2015. The Attwater’s prairie-chicken represents yet another example of the importance of environmental variability and its interaction with population size to persistence, and ultimately to species survival.
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Presenters/Authors
Michael Morrow
(), Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, mike_morrow@fws.gov;
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