Translocation to different regions may alter migration patterns

What is it about?

We compared migration strategies between three Asian Houbara populations spanning western to central Uzbekistan using satellite telemetry. We then released captive-reared (headstarted) Houbara from the eastern to the western population. Although translocation gave small sample sizes, surviving translocated released individuals migrated much further than wild individuals from the same region of release. This indicates a strong conserved heritable component to migration that could be detrimentally affect by large-scale captive breeding if this does not respect the intergrity of source populations.

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Why is it important?

Asian Houbara are declining due to unregulated unsustainable hunting. Industrial-scale captive breeding is being used in an attempt to supplement wild populations, and this strategy is presented as conservation. This work shows that releasing birds outside of their source populations may alter the natural migration system of this species. Translocation and reintroductions are increasingly used in bird conservation - we urge caution for migratory species.

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