Broken canines were considered a significant health issue in 2 of 17 cases, resulting in depredation in one case. Our data support the premise that broken canines do not usually represent a serious health issue and are usually not related to HTC. The assumption that broken canines lead
to HTC appears invalid and may result in tigers being unnecessarily removed from the wild by managers. Similar results have been found for lions and the trend may be true for other large cats and carnivores as well. “
“There is an increasing awareness that PLX-4720 chemical structure adaptive differences among local populations may affect the success of translocation programmes. A mismatch in habitat quality of the target localities and in the local adaptations of the translocated individuals may reduce the success rate of the translocation programme. The green toad Bufo viridis is the most threatened amphibian in Sweden and has been the focus of an extensive translocation programme of eggs, tadpoles and juvenile toads to several localities with apparently favourable conditions for green toads. However, the success
of these measures has been poor. In this study, we investigated the extent of local adaptation in the green toad by examining population divergence and the effect of thermal and saline conditions on larval performance in four Scandinavian populations. GS-1101 in vitro In a common garden experiment, we measured larval survival and development as well as the occurrence of spinal deformations. In addition, we quantified pond temperature and water salinity,
two important environmental variables for larval performance in anurans in the breeding ponds as well as in seven additional localities included in the conservation programme. We found significant variation among the localities in water temperature and salinity, and significant among-population divergence in larval life history traits and spinal deformations, including both trait means and plastic responses to salinity and temperature. The available evidence suggests that at least part of this divergence is adaptive. We did not find direct support for local adaptation affecting the success of the translocations, however, we argue that the population origin and the impact of rearing conditions on the fitness-related Thalidomide larval traits should be taken into account in the introduction measures of the Swedish green toad conservation programme as well as in translocation programmes in general. “
“Invasive rats (Rattus spp.) are renowned bird predators and have been identified as a leading cause of island bird population declines and extinctions. Recently, new questions have been raised regarding the mechanisms and the severity of impact of invasive rat predation on bird populations. We investigated the predatory capacity of the invasive black rat Rattus rattus on bird eggs using captive trials on wild-trapped individuals.