Minimizing the cost of translocation failure with decision-tree models that predict species' behavioral response in translocation sites.
The high number of failures is one reason why translocation is often not recommended. Considering how behavior changes during translocations may improve translocation success. To derive decision-tree models for species' translocation, we used data on the short-term responses of an endangered Australian skink in 5 simulated translocations with different release conditions. We used 4 different decision-tree algorithms (decision tree, decision-tree parallel, decision stump, and random forest) with 4 different criteria (gain ratio, information gain, gini index, and accuracy) to investigate how environmental and behavioral parameters may affect the success of a translocation. We assumed behavioral changes that increased dispersal away from a release site would reduce translocation success. The trees became more complex when we included all behavioral parameters as attributes, but these trees yielded more detailed information about why and how dispersal occurred. According to these complex trees, there were positive associations between some behavioral parameters, such as fight and dispersal, that showed there was a higher chance, for example, of dispersal among lizards that fought than among those that did not fight. Decision trees based on parameters related to release conditions were easier to understand and could be used by managers to make translocation decisions under different circumstances.
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.|Department of Biology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars Province, 71454, Iran.
Mehregan
M
Ebrahimi
Institute of Biotechnology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars Province, 71946, Iran.|School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
Esmaeil
E
Ebrahimie
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.
C Michael
CM
Bull
D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D003663:Decision Trees; D056727:Endangered Species; D005260:Female; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement; D013021:South Australia
animal behavior; comportamiento animal; decision tree; lagartija pigmea de lengua azul; manejo de especies; species management; the pygmy bluetongue lizard; árbol de decisión