Peck ranch collared lizard files

Eastern collared lizards (Crotophytus collaris collaris) were a Missouri
state endangered species when this study began in 1982 due to massive
local extinction on glades in the Ozarks in central North America.
 Translocation coupled with glade restoration was initiated in
the 1980’s, including reintroductions starting in 1984 on Stegall Mountain
in southern Missouri.  The translocated populations underwent
three distinct demographic phases:  1) an isolate phase with no
net growth in population size, no colonization of nearby glades, and
almost no dispersal among populations, 2) a colonizing phase of high
dispersal, colonization of new glades, and population growth that started
with the onset of prescribed woodland burning, and 3) a stable
metapopulation phase established by 2000 on Stegall Mountain in which the
number of occupied glades, total population size, and measures of genetic
variation were roughly constant.  The data in this dryad
submission are association with a paper (2023) in Animal
Conservation that used these data to infer the age of 1162 marked
individuals on the basis of distinct color phases and to assign
age-probabilities to 391 marked individuals first captured with adult
coloration based on time-of-capture within the field season and snout-vent
length, as calibrated from following 529 individuals first captured as
hatchlings.  Age structure differed significantly between phases.
 The isolate phase was characterized by an old age structure.
 The colonization phase had a younger age structure and much more
recruitment.  The stable metapopulation phase had an intermediate
age structure.  These dynamic age structure attributes show that
species cannot be regarded as static units, and ignoring this dynamism can
result in poor conservation practice.  These results also
validate age-structure as a monitoring device for a conservation program
and a tool to identify significant shifts in the environment or management
that have a conservation impact, in this case prescribed woodland burning.
 Other papers on these collared lizard populations also make use
of these data.