Individual heterozygosity predicts translocation success in threatened desert tortoises

Abstract

Survival of the most variable As more species become highly threatened because of human activity, there has been an increasing push to understand how best to reintroduce or translocate individuals from wild or captive populations. Suggestions have varied from choosing individuals from the most environmentally similar regions to choosing those that might have the best ability to adapt to new environments. Scott et al. used long-term data collected during translocations of Mojave Desert tortoises, including animals formerly kept as pets, to test these questions. Although the overall rates of survival for all tortoises at the site (both reintroduced and native) were extremely low, translocated individuals with the highest heterozygosity survived at much higher rates than those determined to be similar to the target population. Science , this issue p. 1086