SGER: Monitoring Anacapa Island Deer Mice: Population Bottleneck, Release, and Reestablishment

该项目将利用一个独特的机会，在捕获、释放和恢复受到威胁的哺乳动物Anacapa Island鹿鼠(Permyscus Manulatus Anacapae)期间，监测受控种群瓶颈的进展及其后果。这种鹿鼠是一种地方性亚种，只出现在加州海峡群岛之一的Anacapa组成的三个小岛上。海峡群岛国家公园目前正在进行一项计划，以根除引进的老鼠--老鼠。灭鼠是通过用一种强有力的啮齿动物毒药大规模投毒来进行的；鹿、鼠和大鼠都将被消灭。此前，阿什利博士利用分子遗传学、形态测量和种群生存分析(PVA)等多种方法进行了一项保护和管理研究。因此，有人建议公园管理局从每个小岛上至少捕获333只小鼠，将它们圈养起来，然后作为重新引入的种群。根据研究，这种情况将产生一个保持遗传变异的高概率持续种群，但这是一项可行的任务。这项计划目前正在实施中。在这里，阿什利博士建议利用这一独特的机会来监测这些人口的恢复情况。她将对每一只重新引入的老鼠进行采样和分型，定期进行种群普查，并每两年重新采样一次。这项研究的影响远远超出了对岛屿地方病的管理。该项目将测试PVA的结果，将种群遗传学理论的预测与现实世界进行比较，并将评估圈养繁殖和重新引入计划。大多数物种管理项目涉及其中一种或多种做法，但很少对结果进行评估或实地测试。通过监测鹿鼠在重新引入和恢复过程中的数量、分布和遗传变异，本研究结果将提供重要的新信息，可直接应用于其他濒危脊椎动物的管理和保护。

This project will take advantage of a unique opportunity to monitor the progress of a controlled population bottleneck and its aftermath during a capture, release, and recovery program for a threatened mammal, the Anacapa Island deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae). This deer mouse is an endemic subspecies that occurs only on the three small islets that comprise Anacapa, one of the California Channel Islands. The Channel Islands National Park is currently conducting a program to eradicate the introduced rat, Rattus rattus. Rat eradication is conducted by large-scale poisoning with a potent rodent poison; deer mice as well as rats will be extirpated. Previously Dr. Ashley had conducted a conservation and management study using a combination of approaches that included molecular genetics, morphological measurements and population viability analysis (PVA). As a result, recommendations were made to the Park Service to capture a minimum of 333 mice from each of the islets, hold them in captivity, and use then as stock for reintroduction. According to research, this scenario would produce a population with high probability of persistence that maintained genetic variation, and yet represented a feasible undertaking. This plan is currently being implemented. Here Dr. Ashley proposes to take advantage of this unique opportunity to monitor the recovery of these populations. She will sample and genotype every mouse reintroduced, census the population regularly, and resample biannually. The impact of this research extends well beyond the management of an island endemic. The project will test the outcome of a PVA, compare predictions of population genetic theory to the real world, and will evaluate a captive breeding and reintroduction program. Most species management projects involve one or more of these practices, but outcomes are rarely evaluated or field-tested. By monitoring the numbers, distributions, and genetic variation in deer mice as they are reintroduced and during their recovery, the results of this study will provide important new information that can be directly applied to management and conservation of other endangered vertebrate species.