Data from: Predicting translocation outcomes with personality for desert tortoises

As mitigation- and conservation-driven translocations of declining species escalate, establishing best practices for conservation practitioners is critical. A variety of factors, such as individual behaviour, may influence post-release behaviour and survival. Here, we explored the role of individual personality in predicting post-translocation survival and behaviour in juvenile desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii). Using an experimental design with captive tortoises, we found that individual tortoises displayed clear personalities along bold-shy and investigative or exploratory continuums. Following release, personality correlated with burrow use and survival in the wild. Individuals with more exploratory personalities were encountered in burrows more often and experienced higher survival. Among the variables analysed, burrow use was also one of the strongest predictors of survival. Thus, we infer that exploratory tortoises were more likely to find and use refugia, which was beneficial to translocated tortoises. Dispersal after release was unrelated to personality, although males dispersed farther than females. Strikingly, females experienced a rate of mortality that was almost twice that of males, with no measured size differences between the sexes. We conclude that desert tortoise do have personalities which can influence survival following translocation, but which have limited implications for post-release dispersal.

随着针对衰退物种种群的保护与缓解驱动型易地放归活动日益增多，为保护从业者确立最佳实践规范至关重要。诸多因素（如个体行为）均可影响个体放归后的行为表现与存活状况。本研究以幼体阿加西斯沙漠陆龟（Gopherus agassizii）为对象，探究了个体性格对其易地放归后存活情况与行为表现的预测作用。通过针对圈养陆龟的实验设计，我们发现个体陆龟在大胆-害羞以及探索-好奇的连续谱系上均呈现出清晰可辨的性格特征。放归野外后，性格特征与个体的洞穴利用行为及野外存活情况显著相关：探索性更强的个体被观测到更多使用洞穴，且存活概率更高。在本研究分析的诸多变量中，洞穴利用行为亦是影响存活情况的最强预测因子之一。据此我们推测，探索性更强的陆龟更易发现并利用庇护所，这对易地放归的陆龟存活极为有利。尽管雄性个体的扩散距离显著大于雌性，但放归后的扩散行为与个体性格并无关联。值得注意的是，雌性个体的死亡率几乎为雄性的两倍，而两性的体型并无显著差异。综上，本研究证实阿加西斯沙漠陆龟确实存在性格差异，此类特征可影响其易地放归后的存活情况，但对放归后的扩散行为影响有限。