Data from: Predicting translocation outcomes with personality for the desert tortoise

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 behavior, may influence post-release behavior and survival. Here we explored the role of individual personality in predicting post-translocation survival and behavior 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 analyzed, 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.随着以生态缓解与物种保护为目标的衰退物种种群迁地放归（translocation）行动日益增多，为保护从业者制定标准化最佳实践方案已成为当务之急。诸多因素（例如个体行为）均可对个体放归后的行为模式与存活状态产生影响。本研究以幼年沙漠陆龟（Gopherus agassizii）为研究对象，探讨了个体性格对其迁地放归后存活率与行为表现的预测作用。研究采用圈养陆龟开展实验设计，结果显示，受试个体在胆大-胆小、探索倾向强弱这两个性格连续谱系上均表现出清晰的性格特征。放归野外后，个体性格与洞穴利用行为及野外存活率显著相关。探索性更强的陆龟被观测到更频繁地使用洞穴，且存活率更高。在本研究分析的各项变量中，洞穴利用行为亦是预测存活率最强的指标之一。由此我们推断，探索性更强的个体更易找到并利用庇护所，这对迁地放归的陆龟生存极为有利。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，而两性的体型并未观测到显著差异。本研究得出结论：沙漠陆龟确实存在稳定的性格差异，这类性格特征会影响迁地放归后的存活率，但对放归后的扩散行为影响有限。