From reintroduction to reproduction: the physiological costs of wildlife interventions in the Cape Mountain zebra

Abstract

The impact of our own species poses an increasing threat to the existence of thousands of others. Consequently, demand for effective management strategies to ameliorate the deterioration of the natural world increases exponentially with each decade. While interventions, such as translocations, play a significant role in contemporary conservation efforts, unless their outcomes are optimised, their value is limited. In defining programme success, it is crucial to develop consistent evaluative strategies for interventions. Faecal metabolites facilitate valuable physiological assessment of the fitness and reproductive capacity of an individual and consequently, vital insight into a population’s long-term resilience. This research demonstrates non-invasive methods to measure fitness and reproductive performance in the Cape Mountain zebra (CMZ), a subspecies whose conservation has relied on significant levels of intervention. Chapter 1 uses faecal oestrone metabolites to define and subsequently compare established pregnancy rates in nine CMZ populations. Our analyses outline poorer relative reproductive capacities in populations established by insufficient founder population sizes (

Date of Award	1 Aug 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Jonathan Codd (Supervisor) & Susanne Shultz (Supervisor)