Survival of reintroduced Asian houbara in United Arab Emirates' reserves

Increasing knowledge of post-release survival and habitat requirements of translocated animals is critical to improve success of conservation programs. We estimated survival of reintroduced captive-bred Asian houbara bustards (Chlamydotis macqueenii) in reserves of western United Arab Emirates where plantations exist as supplementary feeding sites. We explored factors influencing short- (3 months after release) and long-term (tri-monthly periods after third month of release) survival rates of released birds. We modeled life histories of individually tracked houbara using Program MARK. Mean short-term survival probability (0.76 ± 0.14 SD) was lower than mean long-term survival (0.86 ± 0.03 SD), and observed group size and the age of released birds positively correlated with short-term survival. We hypothesize that higher quality habitat (plantations) affected survival; larger groups occurred in plantations and older birds might be better able to maintain access to plantations. Long-term survival was negatively influenced by subsequent release events. Releasing more individuals increases local houbara density. This may lead to food depletion, increase in density-dependent mechanisms between individuals, or both. Short- and long-term survival rates suggest that food availability at the release sites, together with intraspecific interactions, may influence survival of newly released and established individuals. To improve the management of translocated animals, the impact of managed food resources should be quantified to assess how it might affect population vital rates.